UBRARY  OF  PRINCETON 


AHQ  ?  P  ^003 


THEOLOGiCAL  SE^!INHRY 


THE   DIRECTING    COMMITTEE 


Mr.   Gerald  Birks 

Montreal,  Canada 

Mr.   James   H.   Post 

New    York    City 

Mr.    S.    W.    Woodward 

Washington,    D.    C. 


Sir    Frederick    Smith 

Capetown.    So.   Africa 

Mr.   James   G.   Cannon 

New    York    City 

Chairman 

Mr.    Clyde   R.   Joy 

Keokuk,   Iowa 


Sir   Charles   Goode 

Adelaide,    Australia 

Mr.  Fred.  F.  Tasker 

New    York    City 

Mr.    James    M.    Speers 

New    York    City 


v^ 


"C 


Va 


APR    1   1959 


\. 


EXTRACTS    OF    LETTERS    FRO^ 


Mr.  FRED.  B.  SMITH 


RELATING   TO   THE 

WORLD    TOUR    OF    THE    ^^  MEN    AND    RELIGION 
FORWARD    MOVEMENT"    TEAM 


PRINTED    FOR    PRIVATE    DISTRIBUTION   BY 

JAMES    G.    CANNON 
1913 


Mr.  Smith,  Mr.  Robins  and  their  as- 
sociates made  a  tour  of  the  world  in  re- 
sponse to  invitations  from  Christian  lead- 
ers in  other  nations  who  felt  the  need  of 
the  help  of  message  and  method  of  the 
Men  and  Religion  Forward  Movement. 

The  following  letters  were  sent  bach 
by  Mr.  Smith,  and  feeling  that  others 
interested  in  the  campaign  will  profit 
by  reading  them,  I  have  had  them  printed 
for  a  limited  circulation  among  the 
friends  of  the  Department. 

James  G.   Caxxox, 

Chairman. 


THE   VISITING   TEAM 


Mr.  Fred.  B.   Smith 
New  York  City 


Mr.    James    E.    Lathrop 
Pittsburgh,  Pa. 

iSecrefari/ 


Mr.    Raymond    Robins 
Chicago,    111. 


Mr,    Harry    N.    Holmes 

Johannesburg,     So.    Africa 

Organizing    Secretary 


INTERNATIONAL    QUARTET 
Mr.    Paul   J     Gilbert  Mr.    Cornell   M.    Keeler 

Mr.   p.    H.   Metcalf  Mr.  Edward  W.   Peck 


EXTRACTS  OF  LETTERS  FROM 

Mr.    FRED.    B.    SMITH 

Relating    to    the    World    Tour    of   the    "Men    and    Religion 
Forward  Movement  "    Team. 


I 

En  route  to  San  Francisco,  January  15,  1913. 

My  dear  Mr.  Cannon  :  We  are  now  on  our  way,  and 
are  nearly  to  what  may  be  called  the  "  jumping-off 
place,"  so  far  as  the  actual  beginning  of  our  tour  is 
concerned.  In  a  few  hours  we  will  be  in  San  Francisco, 
and  day  after  to-morrow  will  set  sail  for  the  "  far  East." 

Every  man  of  the  team  is  in  fine  fettle.  I  have 
worked  with  these  same  fellows  now  for  two  years  in 
almost  unbroken  campaigns,  but  certainly  never  saw 
them  when  they  were  rendering  a  grander  service  than 
during  these  days  since  we  left  you  in  New  York.  Rob- 
ins, Peck,  Gilbert,  Metcalf,  Keeler  and  Lathrop — every 
man  is  practically  at  his  best. 

I  am  so  glad  we  have  been  granted  these  two  weeks 
of  special  campaign  across  our  own  dear  country  before 
starting  with  this  message  to  the  distant  lands.  I  be- 
lieve there  has  been  a  peculiar  providence  in  our  contact 
with  the  Christian  workers  in  Pittsburgh,  St.  Louis, 
Wichita,  Denver,  and  then  a  whole  group  of  towns  in 
Oregon,  including  Portland,  Eugene,  Forest  Grove,  Cor- 

3 


vallis,  Albany,  and  Salem,  and  now  we  are  soon  to  have 
that  privilege  in  San  Francisco  and  Oakland.  It  has  all 
been  splendid,  and  will  help  us  in  the  long  heavy  weeks 
to  come.  Perhaps  of  all  of  these  experiences,  no  one 
memory  will  stand  out  so  long  and  powerfully  with  us,  as 
a  constant  inspiration,  as  the  dinner  in  New  York  on  the 
night  of  January  3d.  There  is  only  one  regret  about 
it,  and  that  is  that  your  illness  prevented  you  from  being 
present.  It  seemed  as  though  there  was  a  wheel  off  the 
wagon.  I  am  sure  we  are  going  to  see  some  days  that 
are  pretty  heavy,  and  some  days  when  we  will  be  tempted, 
perhaps,  to  give  up  the  struggle,  but  the  memory  of  that 
dinner,  and  the  confidence  expressed  by  our  own  closest 
and  most  intimate  friends  will  remain  a  compelling  force 
and  power  with  us  to  the  end  of  the  journey. 

There  have  been  lessons  we  have  learned  during  the 
tour  across  the  country  which  I  believe  are  just  the  ones 
we  ought  to  have  to  give  us  liberty  and  confidence  in  car- 
rying this  message  around  the  world. 

First. — The  comfort  of  modern  methods  of  mission- 
ary work. 

In  line  with  a  special  course  of  daily  Bible  reading 
which  I  myself  am  following,  I  have  been  reading 
"  Paul's  Missionary  Journeys  "  and  some  of  his  letters, 
and  have  forty  times  over  said  to  myself  that  I  believe 
God  had  directed  that  I  should  be  reading  of  this  first 
missionary's  experiences  just  as  we  were  starting  on  this 
long  pull.  Of  course,  we  are  going  to  see  some  anxieties  ; 
we  are  going  to  meet  some  hardships ;  we  are  having  to 
make  some  sacrifices.  If  any  one  thinks  there  is  any 
special  fun  in  bidding  your  own  home,  family,  and  friends 
"  good  bye  "  to  go  out  upon  a  campaign  of  this  kind 
around  the  world  for  seven  months,  they  ought  to  try  it 
once.     If  the  only  motives  are  those  of  sentimental  desire 

4 


to  travel,  they  will  never  go  but  once.  I  believe  every 
man  in  the  party  has  had  to  use  his  full  capacity  of 
nerve  to  say  "  good  bye  "  and  go.  The  easy  thing,  the 
happy  thing,  the  delightful  thing  would  be  to  stay  right 
at  home. 

Raymond  Robins,  in  one  of  his  speeches  upon  experi- 
ences in  Alaska,  uses  this  very  intense  statement.  He 
says  that  there  were  more  than  twenty  thousand  who 
went  over  the  pass  into  the  Yukon,  but  that  after  all,  it 
was  a  very  small  number  who  really  got  any  gold.  Not 
because  there  was  no  gold  there,  but  because  they  were 
not  willing  to  dig.  He  says  "  nobody  got  any  gold  up 
there  except  those  who  were  willing  to  work  for  it." 
That  same  law  is  in  Christian  work  as  well  as  in  gold 
mining,  or  in  banking,  or  in  any  form  of  commercial 
enterprise.  I  have  a  thousand  times  in  my  life  wished  I 
could  do  my  duty  to  the  Kingdom  of  God  and  remain  at 
No.  20  Ridgeview  Avenue,  White  Plains,  all  the  time, 
but  God  orders  it  differently,  and  just  now  we  would  be 
tempted,  perhaps,  to  magnify  our  sacrifice,  but  a  little 
renewing  of  acquaintance  with  Paul  and  his  experiences 
have  taken  that  all  out  of  me. 

In  the  first  place,  I  guess  Paul  never  had  an  invitation 
to  any  city  he  ever  visited.  When  he  went,  he  had  to 
thrust  himself  in.  He  never  had  an  advance  Secretary 
ahead  of  him  to  organize  the  field,  and  not  one  committee 
appointed  to  meet  him  at  the  train.  His  was  an  unwel- 
come ministry.  Ours  is  in  strange  contrast.  We  have 
our  Organizing  Secretary,  Harry  Holmes,  on  ahead  of 
us,  getting  the  committees  ready,  and  he  promises  us 
an  enthusiastic  reception  committee  upon  our  arrival  in 
every  city.  We  are  beckoned  on  by  cables  and  most 
wonderful,  loving  letters,  telling  us  how  much  our  serv- 
ices are  desired. 

In  the  second  place,  when  Paul  traveled,  he  did  not 

5 


have  any  Pullman  or  dining  cars.  There  were  no  state 
rooms  or  shower  baths.  He  seemed  to  think  himself 
most  happy  when  some  kindly  door  of  protection  would 
open  for  him  that  he  might  have  rest  during  his  mis- 
sionary work,  but  always  expected  to  continue  his  craft 
and  earn  money  enough  to  pay  for  the  eggs  and  bacon. 
He  was  more  familiar  with  rioting  mobs,  prison  cells 
and  cruel  stripes  upon  his  back  than  with  the  modern 
twentieth-century  means  of  travel  and  service. 

In  the  third  place,  Paul  did  not  have  any  Lathrop 
with  his  typewriter  along  to  take  care  of  the  letters. 
It  is  true  he  had  John  Mark  for  a  while,  and  Silas  the 
singer,  and  Barnabas,  and  I  guess  Dr.  Luke  occasion- 
ally, but  I  don't  think  any  of  them  ever  helped  him  very 
much  with  his  correspondence.  Notwithstanding  the 
limited  means  of  his  literary  work,  I  am  a  little  afraid 
that  some  things  he  wrote  down  during  that  time  will 
last  even  longer  than  our  feeble  efforts.  We  will  be 
pretty  lucky  if  anything  we  write  lasts  until  we  get 
home.     Paul's  have  lasted  nearly  two  thousand  years. 

The  fact  is,  we  Christian  workers  of  every  kind  and 
name,  at  home  and  abroad,  ought  to  thank  God  every 
day  for  the  more  favorable  circumstances  under  which 
we  labor. 

Second. — Latest  contact  with  the  results  of  the  Men 
and  Religion  Forward  Movement. 

For  our  profit  and  cheer,  God  seems  to  have  planned 
that  in  the  last  two  weeks  at  home,  we  should  see  and 
feel  something  of  what  a  splendid  general  impression  is 
left  by  the  Men  and  Religion  Forward  Movement  right 
straight  across  the  land.  The  most  essential  thing  in 
promoting  Christian  work  is  a  confidence  which  does  not 
have  any  element  of  doubt  in  it  that  the  thing  is  right. 
The  evidence  that  has  been  accumulating  with  us  clear 

6 


across  the  country  in  every  one  of  these  cities  has  been 
so  tremendous  that  every  man  in  our  party  is  ready  to 
fight  for  the  extension  of  the  ideals,  plans  and  methods  of 
the  Men  and  Religion  Movement.  I  cannot  help  pro- 
foundly pitying  the  fellow  who  is  sitting  around  specu- 
lating as  to  whether  or  not  it  is  all  right.  The  blessing 
of  God  has  been  on  the  Men  and  Religion  Forward  Move- 
ment, not  in  every  respect  in  the  way  we  expected,  but 
when  it  is  all  summed  up  it  is  beyond  our  greatest  hope. 

Third. — A  winning  Church. 

The  day  spent  in  St.  Louis,  and  the  privilege  of 
speaking  both  morning  and  evening  for  our  enthusiastic 
fellow-worker.  Rev.  William  J.  Williamson,  D.D.,  pas- 
tor of  the  Third  Baptist  Church  in  St.  Louis,  gave 
us  an  index  of  what  a  real,  winning  church  ought  to 
be.  Also  a  definite  illustration  that  the  church  does 
not  need  to  keep  moving  out  to  find  a  place  to  live. 
The  day  in  St.  Louis,  from  the  standpoint  of  weather, 
could  hardly  have  been  worse.  There  was  a  rain  and 
sleet  which  made  the  streets  a  glare  of  ice,  just  the 
kind  of  a  day  when  half-hearted  Christians  stay  at 
home.  In  the  face  of  that  kind  of  weather,  every  seat 
was  filled  at  the  morning  service,  and  a  considerable 
number  of  people  stood  up  all  through.  At  night  prac- 
tically the  same  thing  was  duplicated.  Ten  years  ago 
Dr.  Williamson  became  pastor  of  that  church.  Then 
they  had  eight  hundred  members ;  now  they  have  twen- 
ty-seven hundred.  And  the  striking  thing  about  it  is 
that  while  under  his  great  ministry,  that  church  has 
grown  steadily  and  constantly,  others  in  the  same  dis- 
trict have  faded  away,  given  up  the  struggle  and  gone. 
We  could  not  but  think  of  this  when  on  that  very  day 
we  saw  a  great  sign  marked  "  For  Sale  "  in  front  of 
a  near-by  church. 

7 


It  was  peculiarly  interesting  for  us  to  study  the 
method  by  which  this  great  growth  has  taken  place  in 
the  Third  Baptist  Church. 

In  the  first  place,  it  was  worthy  of  special  note  that 
the  church  undertakes  every  kind  of  good  service  in 
behalf  of  the  people.  It  is  also  worthy  of  special  note 
that  they  put  tremendous  emphasis  upon  the  Sunday 
School.  Of  course,  from  the  standpoint  of  Men  and 
Religion  Forward  Movement  specialists,  we  were  pecul- 
iarly interested  in  knowing  that  they  have  a  large 
men's  and  boys'  department  thoroughly  organized  and 
right  up  to  the  minute  in  its  program  of  work,  but  be- 
hind every  other  element  of  strength,  there  stands  this 
significant  fact, — at  every  preaching  service,  both  morn- 
ing and  evening,  Dr.  WilHamson  extends  an  invitation 
for  those  who  wish  to  confess  Christ  to  do  so.  In  other 
words,  while  the  church  is  not  indifferent  to  forms  of 
service  that  must  be  rendered  in  social  life  and  relations, 
it  is  intensely  evangelistic.  I  wish  all  the  little  chaps 
who  are  saying  that  the  evangelistic  method  must  not  be 
pressed  because  it  will  drive  people  away,  could  spend 
about  a  month  in  that  church  and  see  how  utterly  de- 
ceived they  are.  The  evidence  from  New  York  harbor 
to  the  Golden  Gate  proves  that  where  men  are  brave 
enough  and  have  religion  enough  left  to  press  the  evan- 
gelistic emphasis,  crowds  are  in  attendance.  We  are 
thanking  God  for  this  great  church  in  St.  Louis  that  it 
may  help  us  as  we  emphasize  this  principle  around  the 
world. 

Fourth. — Wichita,  Kansas. 

I  am  now  convinced  that  a  tour  around  the  world,  to 
be  intelligent  and  forceful  upon  the  problem  of  Chris- 
tian work  for  men  and  boys,  would  be  a  failure  in  its 
highest  possibilities   if  Wichita,  Kansas,  were  not  in- 

8 


eluded  in  the  itinerary.  I  am  certainly  thankful  to  God 
that  we  had  this  contact,  for  we  are  able  to  carry  the 
message,  that  where  the  forces  are  properly  organized, 
absolutely  wonderful  things  can  be  accomplished. 

Wichita  is  great  in  a  good  many  ways,  but  especially 
so  for  three  reasons.  In  the  first  place,  it  is  great  be- 
cause they  have  organized  there  the  most  wonderful  cam- 
paign of  evangelism  that  I  have  ever  seen  carried  out. 
One  year  ago  last  fall,  the  famous  "  Billy  "  Sunday  held 
a  series  of  meetings  there  which  practically  doubled  the 
church  membership  of  the  town,  and  almost  immediately 
following  that  we  went  there  with  the  Men  and  Religion 
campaign  which  emphasized  the  necessity  of  organizing 
these  men  for  definite  work. 

Evangelistic  bands  were  organized,  and  they  have 
visited,  in  one  year,  seventy-five  of  the  surrounding 
smaller  towns  and  communities.  The  evangelistic  results 
have  been  simply  marvelous,  and  the  whole  country 
there  remains  under  the  powerful  influence  of  a  great 
soul-winning  program. 

In  the  second  place,  Wichita  is  great  because  Mr. 
A.  A.  Hyde,  that  wonderfully  modest  Christian  busi- 
ness man  and  philanthropist,  lives  there.  I  have 
always  known  he  was  great,  but  I  learned  it  better 
in  the  day  I  spent  there  than  ever  before.  Every  man, 
woman  and  child  in  the  town  seems  to  love  the  man. 
You  might  expect  him,  and  I  think  it  would  be  par- 
donable, to  be  a  bit  dogmatic  about  what  ought  to  be 
done  in  Christian  work.  Any  man  who  gives  such  sums 
of  money  as  does  he  to  extend  the  Kingdom  of  Jesus 
Christ  might  be  justified  in  a  little  more  assertion  of 
his  own  views  concerning  the  how  of  things.  Quite  the 
reverse  is  true.  He  is  apparently  the  most  humble 
student  of  the  whole  lot.  And  the  grandest  part  of  it 
all    is    that   under    his    leadership,    this    moderate-sized 

9 


town  bids  fair  to  have  a  whole  school  of  prosperous 
laymen  who  will  use  their  money  in  an  unusual  way 
for  Christian  work.  Some  other  men  are  coming  up 
there  who  are  going  to  be  worthy  associates  of  Mr. 
Hyde. 

Mr.  Hyde  is  a  great  power  any  way  you  take  him, 
and  I  wish  a  lot  of  men  who  are  storing  away  money 
which  they  themselves  can  never  use,  and  which  can 
never  do  their  families  any  good,  and  which  in  some 
cases  will  curse  their  children,  could  catch  the  vision 
that  this  big-souled  man  has,  of  what  money  is  really 
for. 

In  the  third  place,  Wichita  is  great  because  it  has 
no  saloons.  It  is  true  that  you  can  find  liquor  in  the 
back  alleys,  I  suppose,  and  an  old  toper,  who  is  willing 
to  go  down  in  the  basement  or  sneak  around  in  some 
back  room,  can  get  it,  but  not  an  open  bar — not  a  single 
place  where  the  stuff  is  flaunted  in  your  face.  Of  course, 
the  brewers,  the  distillers,  the  bums  and  the  thugs  will 
declare  it  does  not  have  any  effect.  It  is  always  amus- 
ing to  see  the  type  of  men  who  will  tell  you  that  the 
prohibitory  law  does  not  change  the  situation  at  all. 
Here  is  the  fact  by  the  latest  Government  report.  The 
amount  of  liquor  consumed  in  the  state  of  Kansas 
amounts  to  48  cents  per  capita,  per  year;  while  for 
the  whole  United  States  it  amounts  to  a  little  more  than 
$20  per  capita,  per  year.  Illiteracy  is  down  to  less  than 
9.%  of  the  population.  Thirty-eight  poor  farms  in  thirty- 
eight  different  counties  have  no  inmates  at  all,  and  for 
the  whole  state,  there  is  only  one  pauper  to  every  three 
thousand  of  the  population.  Sixty  county  jails  have 
not  had  a  single  prisoner  for  a  year,  and  twelve  others 
have  had  no  prisoners  for  eleven  months.  In  the  rural 
districts,  grand  juries  are  almost  unknown.  About 
the  only  crime  left  is  around  some  of  the  larger  cen- 

IC 


ters  where  the  law  is  more  or  less  disregarded.  Kan- 
sas has  more  wealth  per  capita  than  any  other  state 
in  the  union  save  one,  viz. :  Maine,  and  that  has  been 
for  a  long  time  prohibitory  territory.  Yesterday  we 
were  in  Albany,  Oregon,  where  they  have  had  no  sa- 
loons for  many  years,  have  not  had  a  prisoner  in  the 
jail  for  so  long  they  don't  know  when  they  have  had 
one ;  have  a  little  poor  farm  which  was  provided  way 
back  in  the  days  when  they  did  have  saloons,  and  they 
are  now  planning  to  sell  it,  for  they  have  no  use  for  it. 
I  cannot  help  wondering  how  long  this  great  peo- 
ple of  ours  will  permit  themselves  to  be  fooled  by  the 
whiskey  gang.  There  are  votes  enough  of  good  peo- 
ple who  are  against  this  thing  if  they  could  ever  once 
get  rallied  and  made  a  move  in  unison  to  sweep  it  from 
the  face  of  the  earth.  As  we  start  around  the  world, 
I  am  glad  we  have  this  latest  evidence  upon  the  ques- 
tion  of  the  legalized  whiskey  business. 

Fifth. — The  country  as  a  whole. 

I  wish  all  the  men  you  meet  down  there  on  a  certain 
little  narrow  street  which  has  become  very  famous,  who 
sometimes  get  agitated  about  a  "  panic  "  would  just 
take  one  quiet  unhurried  ride  across  the  country  and 
look  at  the  untold  and  utterly  unmeasured  possibilities 
in  temporal  resources.  They  would  be  ashamed  ever  to 
mention  "  panic  "  again ;  8,000,000,000  bushels  of  corn 
is  now  cribbed  ready  for  the  market;  13,000,000,000 
bushels  of  wheat  is  moving  toward  the  markets  and  the 
mills.  I  think  we  ourselves  have  seen  cattle  enough  to 
feed  the  whole  world  for  the  next  quarter  of  a  cen- 
tury to  say  nothing  about  the  hogs,  and  out  here  in 
this  great  northwest,  sheep — if  we  could  not  get  anything 
else  except  lamb  kidney  stew,  we  would  not  get  hungry 
for  the  next  ten  years,  and  wool  enough  to  clothe  us 

11 


indefinitely,  to  say  nothing  about  the  minerals  unseen 
and  almost  unmeasured  that  are  yet  to  be  taken  out  of 
the  mountains — really,  it  is  a  joke  to  talk  about  a  panic 
in   such   a   country   as   this. 

A  few  stock  gamblers  and  manipulators  may  have  rea- 
son for  anxiety,  but  every  legitimate  business  has  only 
one  future  to  it,  and  that  is  one  of  progress. 

We  need  not  worry  about  the  size  of  our  bank  de- 
posits, our  dividends,  our  stocks  and  our  bonds.  Just 
one  thing  the  men  of  this  great  land  of  ours  need,  and 
that  is  more  religion,  more  of  the  Bible,  more  of  Jesus 
Christ,  more  of  the  Church,  and  we  can  face  the  future 
without  fear. 

Of  course,  we  are  all  conscious  in  our  party  that  we 
are  going  away  from  home,  and  that  we  have  some  long 
weeks  ahead  of  us.  We  are  going  to  try  to  be  faithful 
to  those  who  are  sending  us  out,  and  to  those  who  are 
sustaining  us,  but  we  know  the  days  will,  after  all,  pass 
rapidly,  and  the  home-coming  will  be  a  great  joy. 

As  you  have  opportunity,  won't  you  express  to  all 
our  Committeemen  and  contributing  friends  our  very 
deep  appreciation  of  that  generous  co-operation  which 
makes  possible  this  campaign,  and  be  assured  that  by 
every  power  within  us,  and  by  the  grace  of  God,  we 
will  let  no  opportunity  pass  of  rendering  the  highest 
possible  servi'^e  for  the  Kingdom  of  God  to  the  ends  of 
the  earth.  I  know  perfectly  well  that  such  an  oppor- 
tunity as  we  are  now  facing  cannot  come  again  in  our 
lives.  That  which  we  do  we  must  do  now.  Pray  for  us 
that  we  may  be  faithful. 

Yours  very  sincerely, 
•  Fred.  B.  Smith. 


12 


II 

En  route  to  Honolulu,  January  22,  1913. 

My  dear  Mr.  Cannon  :  We  are  nearing  the  Hawaiian 
Islands.  A  few  hours  more  and  we  will  be  on  land,  and 
I  want  to  have  just  a  little  message  ready  to  start  back 
to  you  at  once. 

If  you  ask  us  to-day,  Wednesday,  about  our  voyage, 
every  man  in  the  party  will  respond  with  a  chipper  air 
of  confidence  and  pleasure,  for  we  are  now  all  well,  and 
the  prospect  of  landing  to-morrow  in  Honolulu  makes 
us  happy  in  the  anticipation  of  the  great  campaign 
which  is  planned  for  us  there.  But  if  you  had  asked 
us  how  we  enjoyed  sea  travel  about  last  Saturday, 
there  would  have  been  a  sad  wail  for  your  answer. 
We  left  San  Francisco  brave  in  the  feeling  that  no 
flutter  of  the  peaceful,  calm,  friendly  blue  Pacific 
Ocean  could  disturb  us.  Our  good  ship,  the  China, 
passed  through  Golden  Gate  at  about  three  o'clock 
Friday  afternoon,  but  only  two  of  our  party  of  seven 
could  appear  for  dinner  that  night.  We  struck  a  rough 
sea  at  once,  and  it  proceeded  to  do  its  traditional  work. 

Sea-sickness  is  a  delightful  joke  for  those  on  land 
when  reciting  their  sea  experiences,  but  you  cannot  per- 
suade any  man  that  there  is  the  least  semblance  of 
humor  in  it  when  the  ship  begins  turning  summer-saults 
and  he  knows  he  must  pay  the  inevitable  penalty.  From 
luncheon  on  Friday,  at  one  o'clock,  our  next  unanimous 
roll-call  was  on  Sunday  night  for  dinner.  There  is  a 
deal  of  poetry  and  sentiment  about  the  placid  Pacific, 
with  her  calm  breezes  and  gentle  ripples,  but  the  fact  is, 
when  she  gets  mad,  she  is  mad  clear  to  the  bottom,  and 
the  results  are  just  the  same  as  those  on  the  Atlantic 

13 


under  similar  conditions.  It  does  not  do  much  good 
to  quote  lines  about  the  "  quiet  blue  "  of  the  Pacific 
when  a  poor  sea-sick  passenger  is  losing  all  of  the  meals 
he  may  have  eaten  since  a  year  ago  last  Thanksgiving. 
Just  to  sum  it  up,  the  truth  is,  we  got  well  thrashed 
out  during  our  first  forty-eight  hours.  However,  it  is 
all  over  now,  and  like  the  old  colored  man  who  loved  to 
have  somebody  kick  him  in  the  shins  because  it  felt  so 
good  when  it  quit  hurting,  we  rather  boast  of  our  ex- 
perience because  the  joy  of  quiet  has  been  the  greater 
since  we  got  our  "  sea  legs  "  under  us. 

Crossing  the  Pacific  Ocean  has  some  things  in  it  that 
are  exactly  the  same  as  crossing  the  Atlantic,  or  any 
other  ocean.  The  sea  is  the  sea,  everywhere  and  any- 
where, but  it  does  seem  to  me  that  I  have  had  more 
thoughts  about  its  significance  and  about  its  weird  life 
upon  this  voyage  than  any  of  the  others  which  I  can 
remember.  I  sometimes  wonder,  after  all,  whether  God 
meant  us  to  go  spinning  back  and  forth  in  these  human- 
made  machines  of  travel.  The  sea  is  so  big  and  vast 
that  nobody  can  understand  it.  You  try  to  think  it 
through  in  all  of  its  mystery,  and  after  a  while  you  get 
tired  and  give  it  up.  It  is  so  restful  at  times,  and  so 
calm,  that  you  wish  you  might  always  be  out  upon  it, 
and  then  in  a  little  while  it  gets  so  mad  that  you  believe 
it  to  be  your  fiercest  enemy  and  hope  and  pray  never  to 
see  it  again.  Out  here,  as  we  move  into  the  tropical 
zone  and  sit  at  the  bow  on  moonlight  nights,  while  the 
spray  rushes  back  from  the  prow  of  the  ship  and  a  thou- 
sand ripples  glisten  with  delight,  it  seems  so  full  of  music 
that  you  want  always  to  be  near  enough  to  hear  it.  And 
then  again,  that  long  sort  of  distant  moan  has  such  a 
sad  refrain  that  it  seems  as  though  the  sorrows  of  the 
universe  are  wrapped  up  in  its  bosom,  and  you  want  to 
be  free  from  it  forever. 

14 


I  am  not  surprised  that  the  peroration  of  the  Bible  in 
its  Heaven  scene  should  declare  that  "  the  sea  is  no 
more."  There  are  thousands  upon  thousands  of  the 
people  of  the  world  who  would  not  want  to  go  to  Heaven 
if  they  had  to  live  constantly  in  the  memory  of  the  sea 
and  had  to  battle  with  its  elements  for  all  eternity  as 
they  have  had  to  do  in  time.  PersonaJly,  I  am  a  sure 
enough  lover  of  the  sea,  but  I  believe  I  would  rather 
sit  somewhere  on  terra  firma  and  watch  it  rather  than 
undertake  to  conquer  it  in  travel.  Before  we  can  get 
back,  we  have  about  twenty-seven  thousand  miles  to 
travel  OA'^er  these  waves,  and  as  I  write  now,  it  seems  to 
me  the  best  thing  the  sea  can  do  for  us  is  to  bear  us 
safely  home. 

One  of  the  things  which  has  made  our  voyage  unique 
is  the  presence  of  a  fine  lot  of  missionaries  on  board. 
Some  of  them  are  going  out  for  the  first  time,  and 
others  are  going  back  after  furlough.  Most  striking 
among  the  lot  is  the  grand  old  Bishop  Harris,  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church  for  Japan  and  Korea. 
These  Christian  workers  form  a  strange  and  glorious 
contrast  to  the  average  tourist.  I  guess  every  ship  has 
its  gamblers,  drunkards,  blackguards,  and  all-around 
sports  on  board.  I  have  traveled  a  good  deal,  but  do 
not  remember  ever  getting  on  any  ship  without  finding 
that  same  group  of  brawlers.  There  is  no  place  on 
earth,  it  seems  to  me,  so  sure  to  reveal  what  is  really  in 
a  man  as  upon  a  long  sea  journey.  He  lets  the  beast 
out  if  it  is  in  him.  There  is  a  kind  of  feeling  that  you 
are  out  of  the  world,  and  that  what  is  done  on  a  ship 
does  not  count.  I  talked  with  one  young  man  who  has 
been  drinking  and  gambling,  who  assured  me  that  these 
were  not  the  permanent  habits  of  his  life,  and  that  he 
would  not  think  of  such  a  thing  on  shore.  The  Atlantic 
Ocean  always  reveals  this  type,  but  I  have  an  impression 

15 


that  these  crowds  going  to  the  far  East  take  a  little 
more  liberty  along  this  line  than  anywhere  else.  Cer- 
tainly we  have  that  crowd  at  its  worst.  The  crew  of 
the  ship,  with  the  exception  of  the  officers,  is  made  up 
entirely  of  Chinamen,  and  they  gamble  riotously.  We 
have  seen  as  many  as  seven  Chinamen  with  their  tables 
and  dice  right  out  in  full  view  on  the  open  deck  of  the 
ship  playing  "  chuck-a-luck."  They  gamble  with  just 
the  same  zest  and  enthusiasm  with  which  they  eat  rice 
with  chop  sticks.  These  coolies  of  the  crew,  however, 
are  not  more  vulgar  in  their  open  gambling  than  a 
gang  of  young-blood  Americans  who  are  passengers. 

I  wonder  if  you  ever  thought  of  this :  the  loud- 
mouthed American  can  make  more  display  of  his  im- 
morality, I  firmly  believe,  than  any  other  man  on  this 
footstool.  When  the  American  drinks  whiskey,  he  drinks 
it  like  a  hog.  When  he  gambles,  he  gambles  like  a 
glutton,  and  when  he  swears,  he  stands  out  alone.  There 
is  no  other  breathing  human  being  who  can  so  blas- 
pheme all  the  names  that  are  sacred  to  religion  as  the 
American.  We  have  a  kind  of  refrain  in  our  blood 
which,  when  it  gets  wicked  and  vicious,  is  explosive.  If 
you  want  to  see  this  type,  you  need  to  observe  him  with 
his  thumbs  in  his  vest  en  route  for  the  far  East  to  dis- 
play his  marvelous  talents.  Thank  God,  these  great- 
souled  missionaries  tell  the  other  side  of  our  American 
life,  and  notwithstanding  the  first  type,  I  am  perfectly 
willing  to  have  the  country  judged  by  the  average  found 
on  this  very  ship.  Among  these  missionaries  are  young 
women,  cultured,  refined,  and  of  first  ability,  leaving  all 
they  hold  dear  of  human  ties  to  go  out  to  serve  Christ 
in  trying  to  penetrate  the  non-Christian  realm  with  the 
Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ.  Here  again  is  a  young  man 
and  a  girl  wife  and  baby,  breaking  home  ties,  starting 
for  the  first  time,  with  their  faces  turned  toward  four 

16 


Bishop  Harris,  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  on  Steamer 
China,  returning  after  furlough,  just  completing  fifty 
years'  service  in  Japan 


hundred  million  souls  in  China  to  do  their  part  in  try- 
ing to  evangelize  them.  Another  brainy  man  and  his 
wife,  he  from  Berhn  and  she  from  one  of  the  finest 
families  in  Canada,  the  holders  of  sufficient  wealth  to 
make  them  independent  for  life,  are  returning  from 
furlough.  He  came  out  first  sixteen  years  ago.  Dur- 
ing that  time  he  has  been  home  twice,  and  now,  with 
the  enthusiasm  of  a  young  man  going  to  his  first  work, 
he  returns  to  his  mission  two  thousand  miles  in  the  in- 
terior of  China  because  he  believes  that  God  calls  him 
there.  He  has  seen  riots,  revolutions.  Boxer  wars,  mar- 
tyrs' deaths,  but  none  of  these  deter  him. 

Then,  perhaps,  towering  grandest  of  them  all,  is 
the  great  old  Bishop  to  whom  I  have  already  re- 
ferred. His  hair  is  white  as  snow,  and  his  face  beams 
like  that  of  a  young  schoolboy.  The  foreign  mission- 
ary pessimist  ought  to  have  to  sit  at  his  side  at  the  din- 
ing table  for  an  ocean  voyage.  He  would  be  beaten 
into  pulp  by  the  records  of  the  Gospel  triumph  which 
this  man  has  witnessed.  He  has  been  almost  fifty  years 
in  Japan,  and  knows  the  whole  story  of  Christianity's 
challenge  and  triumph  for  that  people.  To  hear  him 
tell  the  story  of  what  he  found  in  Japan  fifty  years  ago 
and  what  exists  there  now  is  a  miracle.  It  could  not 
be  accounted  for  by  any  possible  rational  logic.  He 
does  not  place  first  emphasis  upon  the  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  actual  communicants  of  the  Christian  Church 
in  Japan,  although  they  have  them,  but  he  places  first 
emphasis  upon  the  social,  political,  domestic  reforma- 
tion which  has  been  wrought.  In  other  words,  Japan 
is  becoming  Christian  far  more  rapidly  than  is  indi- 
cated by  the  mere  increase  of  communicants  in  the 
Church.  This  great  prophet  does  not  entertain  one 
shadow  of  doubt  of  the  final  issue.     Japan  and  Korea 

17 


are  to  be  Christian.  He  believes  that  with  all  the  power 
of  his  being. 

These  people  are  paying  a  tremendous  price  for  fol- 
lowing their  convictions.  The  cost  is  more  severe  prob- 
ably than  those  of  us  who  remain  at  home  can  ever  es- 
timate. But  no  one  needs  to  pity  them.  I  have  been 
thanking  God  for  the  privilege  of  traveling  on  this 
ship  that  I  might  thus  have  the  opportunity  of  personal 
relationship  and  acquaintance  with  them  when  they  are 
away  from  home  and  are  actually  facing  the  long  strain 
of  years  of  service.  Positively,  they  are  the  most  buoy- 
ant, happy  lot  on  the  whole  ship.  They  feel  the  sense 
of  the  high  honor  and  dignity  of  being  called  of  God 
to  this  service.  As  I  have  thought  of  their  life  and 
watched  them,  I  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
people  to  be  pitied  are  those  who  call  themselves  Chris- 
tian, but  have  never  known  the  richer  joy  of  real  sac- 
rifice. The  more  I  study  the  Gospel,  the  more  I  am 
persuaded  that  there  is  no  genuine  Christianity,  either 
individual,  church  or  national,  without  the  element  of 
sacrifice  entering  into  it.  These  missionary  folks  know 
what  that  means. 

I  am  sure,  as  I  get  farther  on,  I  will  have  more  to 
say  about  our  obligations  to  the  missionaries,  and  what 
a  delightfully  happy  privilege  it  ought  to  be  for  the 
home  Church  to  sustain  them.  But  just  now,  I  want 
to  say  to  you,  dear  friend,  and  I  wish  you  would  say 
it  to  everybody  you  can  for  us,  that  we  ought  to  sustain 
these,  our  representatives  of  the  Foreign  Missionary 
Boards,  not  only  because  of  their  bravery,  not  only  be- 
cause they  are  going  to  the  greatest  moral  need  of  the 
world,  but  also  because  they  are  a  good  corrective  in 
the  far  East,  of  that  impression  that  the  Americans  are 
all  for  greed  and  graft.  Contrasting  the  whiskey  drink- 
ing, gambling  crowd  of  our  ship,  living  for  what  they 

18 


can  enjoy  for  an  hour's  sensuous  pleasure,  with  these 
folks  who  have  seen  the  vision  of  winning  the  world  for 
Christ,  makes  me  realize  anew  what  a  grand  thing  it  is 
to  be  a  Christian.  Therefore,  what  a  glorious  cam- 
paign it  is  in  which  we  are  engaged.  If  we  can  be  used 
of  God  in  the  way  of  our  travel  to  lead  many  men  to 
know  this  true  life,  it  will  be  worth  all  of  our  sacrifice. 

Another  fact  which  has  marked  our  voyage  across 
as  unique  has  been  the  death  of  one  of  our  passengers. 
This  is  not  the  first  time  in  my  life  that  I  have  been 
on  a  ship  where  it  was  necessary  to  have  a  burial  at  sea, 
but  it  was  the  first  time  that  I  have  witnessed  funeral 
exercises  on  a  ship.  I  have  always  had  an  impression 
that  it  would  be  a  sort  of  depressing  and  heart-rending 
scene,  but  really,  the  service  we  had  this  morning,  and 
the  burial,  I  think,  made  a  profound  Christian  impres- 
sion upon  everybody.  The  young  man  who  died  was  a 
Japanese  by  the  name  of  Shirai  Nawokachi.  He  had 
been  suffering  with  mitral  stenosis  for  some  time,  and 
was  returning  home.  I  think,  in  our  terms,  it  is  prac- 
tically the  same  as  inflammatory  rheumatism.  It  be- 
came necessary,  of  course,  to  have  the  funeral  at  once. 
The  ship  stopped,  and  Bishop  Harris  conducted  the 
exercises,  assisted  by  a  native  Japanese  minister.  Our 
quartet  sang,  and  then  a  company  of  missionaries  and 
Japanese  sang  one  of  their  hymns.  The  young  man  was 
a  Christian  and  of  a  Christian  family,  and  there  was 
the  manifest  hope  of  the  Christian  through  it  all.  Yet 
there  was  that  eternal  lesson  that  there  is  no  escape  on 
land  or  sea  from  the  sentence  of  death. 

I  wish  I  could  drop  down  to-morrow  to  the  Fourth 
National  Bank,  go  up  to  the  dining  room  where  we  have 
sat  so  many  times  and  talked  over  problems  of  Christian 
work  at  length,  and  just  have  a  little  chat  with  you, 
but  that  privilege  will  not  be  mine   for  a  good  many 

19 


weeks.  Let  me  tell  you  this  much :  I  do  not  believe  there 
has  ever  been  a  day  in  my  life  when  I  faced  opportuni- 
ties with  a  keener  desire  to  do  my  best  than  now. 

The  past  five  years  have  been  a  period  of  such  intense 
and  constant  travel  with  me  that  I  am  wondering  if 
there  may  not  be  an  added  Providence  in  this  time  away 
from  the  scenes  of  our  own  task  for  a  while,  not  only 
for  what  we  may  be  able  to  do  in  interpreting  this 
larger  method  and  message,  and  in  winning  men  to  the 
Christian  life  in  the  distant  lands  which  we  are  to  visit, 
but  also  that  we  may  get  a  new  perspective  of  the  real 
issues  of  our  own  dear  country.  This  much  I  know 
already :  It  will  be  a  terrible  calamity  and  sin  if  we  fail 
to  win  our  North  American  land  to  its  highest  possibili- 
ties in  the  Christian  hope.  It  will  be  a  sin  because  we 
have  the  men  there  who  are  ready  to  back  up  by  their 
personal  counsel,  effort  and  money,  the  biggest  pro- 
gram that  anybody  can  dream  out.  When  I  think  of 
how  the  o-enerous-hearted  Christian  business  men  of  that 
land  have  and  are  sustaining  every  type  of  vigorous 
Christian  propaganda,  I  am  prepared  to  say  that  there 
will  be  an  awful  sin  resting  upon  somebody  in  the  Judg- 
ment if  the  victory  is  not  won.  It  will  be  a  calamity  if 
it  is  not  done,  because  just  as  sure  as  anything  of  which 
we  may  know  the  world  cannot  be  evangelized  without 
the  inspiring  co-operation  and  illustration  of  the  North 
American  triumph.  We  are  not  very  far  on  this  world 
tour  yet,  but  we  have  studied  the  problems  enough  from 
New  York  to  Honolulu  to  be  conscious  of  the  fact  that 
what  takes  place  religiously  in  North  America  becomes 
immediately  of  world  information  and  interest. 

I  believe  God  is  leading  us  in  this  campaign  around 
the  world.  I  have  not  a  shadow  of  a  doubt  concerning 
that  fact  this  morning,  but  I  also  believe  that  by  these 

20 


experiences  God  means  to  deepen,  quicken  and  intensify 
our  own  message  at  home  when  we  get  back. 

Robins,  Peck,  Gilbert,  Keeler,  Metcalf,  Lathrop  and 
myself  send  back  to  you  and  all  the  others  there  the 
deepest  love  of  which  we  are  capable.  We  do  not  for- 
get to  pray  for  you  any  day  as  we  are  sure  you  do  not 
forget  us. 

By  the  way,  as  I  think  of  our  program  for  each  day, 
probably  most  delightful  for  us  is  our  own  little  church 
service.  We  have  a  Bible  Study  class  of  our  own.  The 
quartet  sings,  and  we  have  what  might  be  called  chapel 
exercises  every  day.  We  pile  in  on  the  trunks  and  the 
bunks  in  one  state-room  at  ten  o'clock  each  morning. 

Yours  with  two  hands  to  the  end  of  the  journey. 

Fred.  B.  Smith. 


21 


Ill 

En  route  Honolulu  to  Yokohama,  February  3,  1913. 

My  dear  Mr.  Cannon  :  Well,  we  are  out  on  the  big  blue 
deep  again,  and  this  time  we  are  to  have  a  long  stretch. 
It  is  3,400  miles  from  Honolulu  to  Yokohama,  and  by 
the  rather  moderate  speed  of  our  ship,  the  Manchuria, 
it  will  take  us  at  least  ten  days  to  make  the  trip.  But 
we  are  happy  in  having  this  long  time  upon  a  perfectly 
wonderful  ship.  The  Atlantic  Ocean  does  not  furnish 
anything  better  for  comfort  than  this  grand  Manchuria. 
She  is  as  steady  as  an  old  clock  even  in  some  pretty 
rough  sea  which  we  have  encountered,  and  she  is  handled 
perfectly  by  Captain  Andrew  Dixon,  our  skipper,  who  is 
one  of  the  best.  He  is  running  the  ship  and  not  enter- 
taining the  ladies  in  the  drawing-room  or  the  sports 
in  the  smoking-room.  I  always  get  restless  at  sea  when 
I  find  the  Captain  playing  the  part  of  the  gay  Beau 
Brummel.  The  story  of  the  Titanic  might  have  been 
different  if  the  ship  had  been  rightly  handled  on  that 
sad  night.  We  have  a  man  who  stubbornly  sticks  to  his 
post  of  duty,  and  it  gives  us  all  confidence. 

Remembering  our  movements  for  the  past  month,  we 
are  surely  the  exemplars  of  Finnegan's  idea  of  life  as 
being  one  constant  round  of  "  off  agin,  on  agin,  gone 
agin." 

The  week  at  Honolulu  passed  so  quickly  that  now  it 
seems  almost  like  a  dream.  We  can  scarcely  realize 
that  we  have  been  there  and  are  through  with  our  first 
big  campaign,  and  are  sailing  away  for  Japan.  While 
it  is  true  that  the  time  spent  there  seems  very  short 
(for  the  days  went  so  quickly),  yet  it  does  not  strike  us 

22 


that  the  time  since  leaving  New  York  can  possibly  be 
but  one  month.  Just  four  weeks  ago,  we  were  at  that 
never-to-be-forgotten  dinner  at  the  Hotel  Astor.  It 
seems  like  three  months,  for  since  that  time  we  have 
traveled  8,000  miles.  Robins  has  spoken  57  times, 
I  have  spoken  54  times,  the  Quartet  has  par- 
ticipated in  70  meetings  and  they  have  sung  201 
times.  We  have  held  a  total  of  88  meetings  and 
conferences,  with  a  total  attendance  of  20,766. 
These  figures  are  very  accurate,  for  Peck  is  our  statis- 
tician, and  he  is  so  cruelly  and  persistently  accurate 
that  I  think  he  could  tell,  if  we  gave  him  a  little  time, 
exactly  the  number  of  biscuits  every  man  in  the  party 
has  eaten.  You  can  get  at  least  some  little  idea  from 
these  figures  that  we  have  been  putting  in  the  full  quota 
of  work  when  we  have  been  on  land. 

I  have  spent  a  good  many  years  in  the  itinerant  type 
of  Christian  work,  but  certainly  was  never  more  com- 
pletely fascinated  by  any  situation  than  by  that  in  Hon- 
olulu. Of  course,  we  had  a  unique  interest  in  our  visit 
to  the  Hawaiian  Islands  because  they  are  a  part  of  our 
own  country,  our  newest  territory.  We  felt  that  we  had 
a  special  right  and  privilege  there.  The  United  States 
may  well  be  proud  of  these  islands  and  their  people. 
They  will  do  us  good  and  not  evil,  and  a  hundred  years 
hence  the  great  Republic  may  discover  that  this  new  ter- 
ritory has  made  a  big  contribution  to  the  nation's  high- 
est moral  good. 

Honolulu  is  great  in  agricultural  products.  Of 
course,  we  always  think  first  of  sugar  plantations  when 
we  consider  the  commercial  side  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands. 
This  is  now,  and  doubtless  always  will  be,  the  big  inter- 
est. They  shipped  $40,000,000  worth  of  sugar  out  of 
the  islands  in  1912.  That  is  big  enough  to  make  even 
Wall  Street  sit  up  and  give  some  special  attention.     I 

23 


visited  one  of  the  great  plantations  and  saw  them  on 
one  side  of  the  valley  cutting  cane  where  the  stalks  were 
as  big  as  ten-year-old  trees,  and  saw  the  steam  railroads 
running  right  out  into  the  fields,  pulling  long  trains  of 
flat  cars  heavily  loaded  with  the  cane  up  to  the  mills. 
Then  I  followed  it  into  the  mill,  saw  it  dumped  into  the 
great  crushers,  then  on  through  to  the  other  end,  where 
it  came  out  the  most  beautiful  granulated  sugar  ever 
put  upon  the  market,  and  one  grade  of  very  highly  re- 
fined crystal  sugar,  all  of  which  is  shipped  to  Paris  for 
the  French  confectioners'  use. 

On  the  other  side  of  the  valley  I  saw  the  immense 
great  steam  plows  turning  the  soil  upside  down  to  a 
depth  of  three  feet.  They  made  the  old-time  plow  that 
I  used  to  follow  look  like  a  Coney  Island  toy  sand  shovel. 

The  whole  sugar  operation  is  colossal,  and  it  is  only 
in  its  infancy.  Up  to  the  present  time  just  the  easiest 
valleys  are  under  cultivation.  With  the  rapid  increase 
of  facilities  for  irrigation  and  with  larger  investment  of 
money,  the  coming  years  will  see  this  industry  multiplied 
many  times  over. 

But  great  as  is  the  sugar  business,  it  is  by  no  means 
the  only  resource.  The  higher  fields,  which,  until  re- 
cently, have  been  considered  as  having  little  or  no  value, 
are  now  being  planted  in  pineapple  orchards,  and  this 
product  promises  to  run  a  close  second  to  sugar  before 
many  years. 

Fruit  of  practically  every  description  grows  in  abun- 
dance, and  is  of  luscious  quality.  The  only  really 
"  measly  "  thing  we  saw  there  was  the  cattle.  They 
surely  have  the  worst  in  the  world,  at  least  I  sincerely 
hope  there  are  none  worse.  No  one  could  quite  explain 
this  to  me,  but  I  guess  there  is  something  about  the 
climate  that  good  big  short-horns  and  the  like  do  not 
take  to.     That  the  islands  have  great  commercial  pos- 

M 


sibilities  is  evidenced  by  the  fact  that  they  have  prac- 
tically no  poverty  such  as  we  see  in  other  countries. 

Honolulu  is  great  in  scenery  and  climate.  It  is 
about  the  only  place  I  have  ever  visited  where  they 
can  truthfully  boast  that  it  does  not  make  much  dif- 
ference what  time  of  the  year  you  come,  so  far  as  the 
weather  is  concerned.  There  are  no  great  extremes 
of  heat  or  cold.  This  fact  makes  the  climate  almost 
perfect,  and  it  also  produces  a  most  magnificent  growth 
of  foliage,  especially  in  ferns,  palms  and  cocoanut  trees. 
I  think  I  have  seen  something  of  tropical  possibilities, 
but  my  present  judgment  is  that  Honolulu  leads  the 
world.  The  most  magnificent  growths  in  southern  Cal- 
ifornia cannot  approach  those  seen  everywhere  in  Hono- 
lulu. One  is  simply  lost  in  wonder  at  the  sight  of  the 
gardens  with  the  trees  and  flowers  which  surround  the 
homes. 

Honolulu  is  great  in  Christian  history.  I  think  that 
if  I  wanted  to  take  an  honest  skeptic  concerning  the 
Christian  faith  to  some  spot  where  I  could  illustrate  at 
close  range  the  results  of  Christianity,  I  would  take 
him  to  Honolulu.  Any  man  who  is  willing  to  accept 
evidence  can  convince  himself  beyond  any  possible  ques- 
tion as  to  the  transforming,  uplifting,  compelling  power 
of  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  by  the  evidence  of  what 
has  taken  place  here  in  a  few  brief  years.  Go  back  a 
hundred  years  into  the  history  of  these  Hawaiian  peo- 
ple, and  it  reeks  with  horror.  The  well-authenticated 
practices  of  the  natives  of  a  century  ago  are  too  fright- 
ful for  thought.  In  all  the  contact  I  have  had  with 
missionaries  of  India,  Ceylon,  Burma  and  Africa,  I  have 
heard  nothing  so  awful  as  some  of  the  incidents  of  the 
old  heathen  state  upon  the  Hawaiian  Islands.  The  ter- 
ror of  their  sins  of  human  sacrifice  which  are  written 
is  the  mildest  part  of  the  story.     A  hundred  years  ago 

25 


no  woman  was  permitted  to  eat  food  cooked  in  the  same 
oven  as  that  for  her  husband.  If  any  one  of  a  man's 
hundred  wives  dared  even  to  step  into  his  eating  room 
at  any  time,  whether  he  was  there  or  not,  the  penalty 
was  quick  and  sure  death.  A  hundred  years  ago  there 
was  no  law  known  but  the  law  of  might. 

In  1820  the  first  permanent  Christian  missionaries 
landed  on  the  shores  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands.  They 
were  from  old  New  England.  They  had  religion  and 
knew  it.  They  preached,  founded  schools,  translated 
the  Bible,  nursed  the  sick,  buried  the  dead,  and  did  all 
those  more  spiritual  things  every  missionary  is  expected 
to  do.  They  also  farmed,  taught  the  trades,  launched 
the  sugar  industry,  and,  along  with  everything  else, 
how  they  could  f'ght  when  that  seemed  a  necessary  thing 
for  the  Kingdom  of  God!  They  fought  the  savages 
within  the  islands,  and  the  whaling  pirates  from  with- 
out. The  early  history  is  sad  enough  in  the  record  of 
the  conduct  of  white  whaling  fishermen  from  California, 
Mexico  and  England.  Those  early  missionaries  used 
their  bullets  and  their  fists  freely  with  this  crowd.  They 
laid  the  foundations  for  a  wonderful  Christian  civiliza- 
tion. All  there  is  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands  and  of  Hono- 
lulu, the  beautiful  capital,  which  to-day  is  worth  boast- 
ing about,  is  due  to  the  beneficent  service  of  these  early 
missionaries.  There  is  no  such  thing  as  Hawaiian  his- 
tory apart  from  the  record  of  these  Christian  pioneers. 
They  are  the  warp  and  woof  of  what  is  found  there  now. 
We  were  made  conscious  of  the  permanent  power  of 
their  work  in  the  presence  of  great  schools  and  churches. 
Of  schools  for  white  students  only,  Cahu  or  Punchou 
College  is  the  most  marked.  It  was  founded  by  the  old 
missionary,  Bingham,  who  gave  the  land  and  the  first 
money.  It  was  originally  intended  as  a  school  for  the 
children    of   the   missionaries.      It   has    steadily    grown 

S6 


until  in  educational,  social  and  religious  influence  it  is 
the  Oxford  of  the  islands.  It  now  has  seven  hundred 
students,  and  sends  annually  about  fifteen  graduates 
to  eastern  universities,  such  as  Yale,  Harvard  and 
Princeton. 

The  second,  which  is  for  Hawaiians  only,  the  Kame- 
hameha  School,  has  over  five  hundred  students.  We  had 
the  great  privilege  of  conducting  meetings  in  both  of 
these  institutions.  Each  was  of  marked  and  unique  in- 
terest, but  probably  all  of  our  men  will  remember  until 
they  die  the  marvelous  singing  of  the  students  at  Kame- 
hameha  School,  They  sang  "  Urbs  Beata,"  "  Jerusa- 
lem the  Golden,"  and  "  Aloha  Oe,"  the  latter  composed 
by  Queen  Liliuokalani.  As  I  sat  on  the  platform,  I 
could  not  restrain  the  tears.  There  is  no  use  in  trying 
to  describe  their  singing ;  it  must  be  heard  to  be  appre- 
ciated. It  is  perfectly  safe  to  say  that  these  two  insti- 
tutions will  furnish  all  of  the  great  leaders  in  the  fu- 
ture Hawaiian  government  and  commercial  life.  Both 
of  them  are  the  direct,  definite  results  of  the  work  of 
the  missionaries. 

Among  the  many  churches  there,  two  stand  out  as 
perhaps  the  most  striking  indications  of  missionary 
permanence.  One  is  the  Central  Union  Church,  which 
has  Congregational  affiliations,  and  the  one  where  the 
older  missionaries  all  belong.  It  has  a  membership  of 
1,100.  In  addition  to  a  local  annual  budget  of 
$17,000,  this  church  spends  $41,000  annually  through 
the  Hawaiian  Board  for  missionary  effort  throughout 
the  islands.  I  doubt  whether  we  have  very  many  single 
churches  anywhere  in  the  United  States  whose  mission- 
ary gifts  would  exceed  that  of  the  Central  Union  Church 
of  Honolulu.  The  other,  the  Kawaiahoa  Church,  the 
grand  old  bulwark  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  has  a  mem- 
bership of  1,050  people.    This  is  the  Old  South  Church 

27 


of  the  Boston  type.  It  is  their  Faneuil  Hall,  their  Lib- 
erty Bell,  their  Westminster  Abbey.  Here  some  of  the 
later  kings  were  crowned,  and  here  it  was  that  the 
Christian  king,  Kamehameha  the  Fourth,  when  being 
crowned,  used  the  expression,  "  The  life  of  the  land  is 
preserved  by  righteousness."  That  expression  has  be- 
come the  watchword  of  the  whole  people.  It  was  in  this 
old  church  that  the  Declaration  of  Independence  was 
read  in  1890,  when  they  declared  Queen  Liliuokalani  to 
be  their  monarch  no  longer.  I  had  the  joy  of  going 
to  this  church  on  Sunday  morning.  Among  the  most 
interesting  incidents  was  to  find  there  one  of  the  old 
residents,  a  Mr.  Jones,  a  man  who  came  to  Honolulu 
from  Boston  fifty-five  years  ago.  When  he  landed  on  the 
islands  he  had  a  few  coins  of  such  small  denomination 
that  he  could  not  spend  them.  They  had  no  value.  They 
were  pennies  and  three-cent  pieces,  and  he  now  has  all  the 
coins  he  had  when  he  landed  with  the  exception  of  one. 
He  has  prospered;  he  is  now  a  wealthy  philanthropist 
and  is  seventy-six  years  old,  but  he  has  been  teaching 
continuously  a  Bible  class  in  this  church  since  1867.  It 
was  my  privilege  to  see  him  with  that  class,  and  to  snap 
my  camera  upon  them. 

Many  other  churches  are  growing  strong,  and  are 
giving  evidence  of  how  the  Christian  life  was  planted  by 
these  first  messengers.  The  Episcopalians  have  a  great 
cathedral  there.  The  Methodists  have  strong  churches, 
and  the  Disciples  of  Christ  have  recently  begun  to  work. 

Another  evidence  of  this  abiding  power  is  the  mag- 
nificent Young  Men's  Christian  Association  building, 
costing  $247,000,  all  subscribed  and  paid  for  by  Hono- 
lulu men.  They  have  no  debts,  and  their  bills  are 
paid  monthly.  They  have  sixteen  hundred  members, 
and  ten  choice  men  on  the  staff  of  employed  secretaries. 
It  is  the  equal  of  any  Association  in  any  city  of  that 

28 


size  I  have  ever  visited,  if  indeed  it  does  not  excel  any- 
thing in  any  city  of  that  size. 

An  additional  evidence  that  these  men  planted  a  virile 
truth  came  to  us  in  the  closer  study  and  knowledge  of 
the  incidents  which  led  to  the  revolution,  the  establish- 
ment of  a  republic,  and  later  to  annexation.  The  most 
intense  element  in  this  is  the  fact  that  the  principle  which 
brought  the  revolution  was  not  a  desire  for  greater 
commercial  gain,  but  was  one  essentially  moral.  Chris- 
tian and  spiritual.  The  men  who  led  in  that  insurrec- 
tion faced  the  possibility  not  only  of  commercial  wreck 
and  the  loss  of  their  property,  but  they  took  their 
very  lives  in  their  hands,  for  had  the  movement  failed 
their  heads  would  not  have  been  worth  ten  cents  apiece. 
They  knew  all  this,  and  yet,  for  the  sake  of  the  King- 
dom of  God  which  they  held  dearer  than  life,  they  made 
their  daring  challenge,  and  they  won  out.  Time  servers, 
commercial  slaves  and  playhouse  toys  do  not  launch 
reforms  of  that  kind. 

Perhaps,  however,  the  supreme  evidence  that  these 
missionaries  had  and  lived  a  real  Christ  life  is  to  be 
found  in  the  fact  that  the  leading  Christian  workers 
now  in  the  islands  are  their  sons  and  grandsons.  We 
heard  much  about  the  second  and  third  generations. 
This  is  the  method  of  describing  the  families  of  mis- 
sionaries up  to  date.  The  third  generation  is  now 
pretty  largely  upon  the  stage  of  action.  Some  of  them 
are  missionaries,  some  are  teachers,  some  are  business 
men.  Some  are  the  wealthiest  and  most  benevolent  giv- 
ers of  money  upon  the  islands.  Practically  every  great 
benevolence  has  come  with  the  name  of  a  missionary 
attached  to  it.  The  money  given  by  one  of  the  second 
or  third  generation  is  often  given  in  memory  of  the 
old  folks.  It  is  true  there  are  some  sad  instances  where 
sons   and   grandsons   have  drifted  away,   but   they   are 

29 


comparatively  few.  Everything  you  touch  in  Hono- 
lulu that  is  worth  while  is  filled  with  the  influence  of 
those  warring,  vigorous  missionaries  who  went  out  un- 
der the  American  Board  from  1820  to  1835.  Other 
churches  have  followed  and  are  doing  a  grand  work,  but 
those  first  great  saints  laid  the  foundations,  and  no  man 
can  tear  them  up. 

As  I  came  into  contact  with  that  tremendous  vigor, 
I  could  but  wonder  whether  New  England's  present 
Christianity  can  send  out  another  band  who  can  render 
such  service  as  did  these.  Frankly,  I  am  afraid  they 
cannot.  If  these  men  and  women  had  started  for  that 
buff'eting  of  six,  seven  and  eight  months  from  New  Bed- 
ford around  Cape  Horn  on  old  sailing  ships  to  the 
heathen  scenes  of  those  islands,  most  of  them  facing  the 
probability  of  never  seeing  their  native  shores  again, 
with  a  big  interrogation  point  in  their  theology  touch- 
ing the  Bible  as  God's  Word,  Jesus  Christ  as  the  Son 
of  God,  and  conversion  as  a  supernatural  work,  they 
would  have  skipped  for  home  with  "  nervous  prostra- 
tion," the  cloak  for  many  modern  defeats,  by  the  first 
returning  ship.  As  I  witnessed  these  marvelous  results, 
I  thanked  God  they  had  a  real  religion. 

Honolulu  is  great  m  its  strategic  Christian  possibili- 
iies.  I  was  prepared  for  some  things  we  were  there  to 
meet,  but  I  was  utterly  unprepared  to  realize  that  we 
were  going  to  stand  on  that  small  spot  of  ground  and 
sound  out  the  message  of  our  Movement  almost  to  the 
uttermost  parts  of  the  earth.  I  do  not  believe  that  there 
is  another  city  in  all  the  world  which  can  influence  so 
large  a  radius  of  the  unevangelized  parts  of  the  world 
as  can  Honolulu.  The  addresses  which  Robins  and  I 
gave  were  in  part  or  in  full  printed  every  day,  not  only 
in  English,  but  in  Japanese,  Chinese  and  Portuguese. 

The  shores  of  the  Pacific  Ocean  are  to  form  a  very 
30 


large  part  of  the  forum  for  Christianizing  the  unpos- 
sessed parts  of  the  world,  and  everybody  who  goes  to  the 
Pacific  Ocean  very  much  will  some  time  go  to  Honolulu, 
I  was  amazed  at  this  part  of  the  situation,  for  it  had 
not  occurred  to  me  until  I  reached  there  and  had  begun 
our  work.  Those  missionaries  who  started  out  of  Bos- 
ton or  New  Bedford  harbors  in  the  little  old  sailing 
ships  to  beat  their  way  around  Cape  Horn  through  six 
months  of  peril  and  suffering,  to  find  their  opportunity 
of  planting  the  Gospel  upon  the  Sandwich  Isles,  little 
realized,  I  think,  what  a  gateway  they  were  evangeliz- 
ing. The  years  have  passed,  and  the  seed  they  planted 
there  so  faithfully,  and  baptized  with  their  blood  in  a 
good  many  instances,  is  now  the  ripened  illustration 
for  those  who  still  sit  in  darkness  looking  for  the  light. 
I  would  be  very  happy  if  I  thought  we  were  in  any  little 
way  doing  a  work  that  would  live  as  long  as  the  work 
done  by  those  godly  men  and  women. 

As  I  am  dictating  to  Lathrop  this  message  to  you, 
the  quartet  is  in  the  next  room  practicing  some  of  the 
Hawaiian  songs.  I  hope  we  will  be  able  to  bring  back 
to  you  some  of  that  intense  spirit  and  that  beautiful 
life  with  which  we  there  came  into  contact. 

We  were  up  every  morning  at  about  six  o'clock,  and 
I  do  not  think  there  was  a  night  while  we  were  there  that 
we  got  to  bed  before  twelve  or  one  o'clock,  and  most  of 
the  time  was  spent  in  meetings  and  conferences.  I  can- 
not begin  to  describe  them  to  you,  and  I  will  not  attempt 
to  tell  you  much  about  results.  I  am  sure  some  of  the 
tidings  will  reach  you  through  other  channels,  but  I 
can  say  this  without  being  misunderstood.  In  our 
closing  meeting,  such  men  as  Bishop  Restarick,  of  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  Dr.  Scudder,  the  great 
leader  of  Central  Union  Church,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Peters, 
pastor  of  the  Disciples  of  Christ  Church,  and  Rev.  Mr. 

SI 


Smith,  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  Pres.  A. 
F.  Griffiths,  of  Oahu  College,  Mr.  Paul  Super,  Gen- 
eral Secretary  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Asso- 
ciation, and  Mr.  Frank  C.  Atherton,  Chairman  of  the 
Executive  Committee,  grandson  of  a  missionary  and 
one  of  the  wealthiest  young  men  of  the  islands,  said 
such  words  of  approval  and  commendation  about  our 
work  as  I  believe  we  have  never  listened  to  in  any 
one  city.  We  parted  with  those  brethren,  feeling  that 
in  no  uncertain  or  unmistakable  way  God  had  been 
witnessing  through  us.  There  were,  of  course,  many 
delightful  incidents  in  connection  with  our  days  there, 
which  I  cannot  and  dare  not  try  to  put  in  a  letter  to 
you,  for  you  would  be  wearied  in  attempting  to  read 
it,  but  one  is  of  such  unique  interest  that  I  cannot  omit 
it,  for  to  us  just  ordinary  United  States  folks,  where, 
of  course,  we  have  no  hesitancy  in  walking  up  to  the 
Chief  Executive  of  the  nation,  and,  with  delightful  fa- 
miliarity, put  our  hand  on  his  shoulder  and  say,  "  Hello, 
Bill !  "  or  "  Hello,  Teddy !  "  it  means  a  good  deal  to 
be  given  the  privilege  of  meeting  some  of  the  royalty. 
Therefore  you  can  understand  with  what  delight  we 
availed  ourselves  of  the  opportunity  of  a  brief  call  upon 
the  famous  Ex-Queen  Liliuokalani.  Through  her  pri- 
vate secretary  an  interview  was  arranged  and  was 
greatly  enjoyed.  Of  course,  she  is  an  old  lady,  but 
she  received  us  with  most  beautiful  and  gracious  cour- 
tesy, talked  freely  of  the  United  States  and  her  friends 
reaching  all  the  way  to  Boston,  had  the  quartet  sing 
for  Jier,  and  was  evidently  deeply  moved  by  their  music. 
She  herself  is  the  author  of  the  most  delightful  Ha- 
waiian hymn,  "  Aloha  Oe,"  which,  in  our  terminology, 
would  be  about  equivalent  to  "  God  be  with  you  'till 
we  meet  again." 

There  was  no  time  when  we  were  so  conscious  of  being 
32 


in  the  presence  of  the  "  old  order  "  as  we  were  while 
visiting  here  in  the  palace,  for  we  were  surrounded  by 
pictures  of  the  old  kings,  and  she  herself  sat  like  a 
queen,  surrounded  by  the  emblems  of  her  royalty.  You 
need  not  be  surprised  if  you  find  a  kind  of  hitherto 
unknown  dignity  about  us  when  we  get  back,  for  we 
are  sure  enough  moving  among  the  "  upper  ten." 

As  I  close  this  message,  I  want  again  to  tell  you  of 
how  intensely  and  wonderfully  we  are  all  working  to- 
gether. Every  man  in  the  party  would  be  quick  to 
jump  to  the  relief  of  any  other  man  if  he  felt  that  the 
work  was  breaking  down  at  any  point.  We  have  many 
delightful  friends,  of  course,  whom  we  are  meeting  all 
the  way  along,  but  I  am  sure  every  man  of  the  seven 
would  say  that  the  happiest  time  in  all  the  day  is  when 
we  meet  just  by  ourselves  each  morning  for  our  little 
Bible  study  and  chapel  service. 

We  are  moving  on,  constantly  putting  more  miles 
between  us  and  those  we  love  best  in  the  world,  but  we 
are  continuing  in  the  faith  that  God  is  directing  and 
that  we  are  to  be  His  messengers  in  a  very  true  sense. 

With  continued  and  ever-increasing  love  and  good 
wishes  to  you  and  to  all  those  who  are  standing  with 
us,   I  am, 

Yours  very  sincerely, 

Fred.  B.  Smith. 


33 


IV 


E}i  route  Honolulu  to  Yokohama,  Japan,  Feb- 
ruary 8,  1913. 

Dear  Mr.  Cannon  :  A  few  hours  more  and  we  will  be 
off  for  our  work  in  Japan.  I  will  send  you  a  brief 
note,  although  the  ten  days  from  Honolulu  have  been 
broken  only  by  the  typical  ship  scenes,  and  therefore 
do  not  contain  much  of  special  interest  to  write  about. 
Counting  the  time  from  San  Francisco,  we  have  seen 
only  one  little  ship  in  sixteen  days  of  sailing,  just  sea, 
sea,  sea!  I  cannot  even  report  a  unique  incident  on  the 
ship.  I  wish  I  could  make  one  voyage  somewhere,  some 
time,  that  would  be  different.  As  I  think  over  all  the 
years  and  all  the  voyages  they  seem  exactly  alike. 

William  Hodge,  in  the  "  Man  from  Home,"  says  that 
there  are  just  as  many  different  kinds  of  people  in 
Kokomo,  Indiana,  as  there  are  in  the  world.  That  is 
true  of  a  ship.  There  are  5,000,000  people  in  New 
York  City,  but  I  am  sure  we  have  as  many  kinds  on  this 
boat  among  our  three  hundred  passengers  as  you  will 
find  there  among  the  entire  5,000,000.  We  have  the 
gay  "  la-de-da  "  boy,  so  dapper  and  cunning,  sure  that 
he  is  the  center  of  the  universe.  We  have  the  "  fluffy- 
ruffles  "  girl,  so  stunning  that  she  marvels  that  the  world 
existed  at  all  before  she  arrived.  We  have  the  literary 
man  who  walks  the  deck  in  a  poem  of  precision,  hair 
long,  eyes  deep  sunken,  a  far-away  stare.  We  have 
the  dashing  theatrical  group,  who  have  forgotten  that 
this  is  not  a  stage.  They  keep  "  acting  "  all  the  while. 
We    have   the   brazen-faced,    cigarette-doped,    whiskey- 

34 


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saturated  gambler.  He  has  no  respect  for  days,  places 
or  people.  We  have  the  grand,  substantial  business 
men  and  women,  those  who  carry  the  hope  of  the  world 
in  their  demeanor.  We  have  the  great  Bishop,  the  au- 
gust Father,  the  Evangelist  and  the  missionary.  Hu- 
manity at  its  best  and  worst  is  brought  into  review  on 
a  long  sea  pilgrimage. 

We  have  had  "  sports  "  galore.  The  "  bottle  race," 
the  "  potato  race,"  "  threading  the  needle,"  the  "  tug  " 
of  war,"  and  the  *'  pillow  fight."  These  are  as  customary 
ship  events  as  is  black  coffee  at  a  well-ordered  dinner. 

We  have  a  lecture  upon  "  The  Poets."  Shame  on 
the  man  who  first  invented  lectures  upon  poetry !  That 
disease  follows  us  even  at  sea.  We  have  a  "  dance." 
That  is  the  night  when  the  baggage  room  is  stormed 
and  the  ladies,  who  vowed  on  shore  that  "  they  were  not 
going  to  fuss  with  dressing  on  the  ship,"  go  down  deep 
for  the  swellest  thing  possible.  The  old  grouch  who 
wouldn't  speak  to  anybody  the  first  three  days 
comes  out  with  full  dress  on  this  evening,  and  is  a  regu- 
lar chatter-box,  a  perfect  ladies'  man.  Last  night  was 
the  time  for  this  great  event  with  us,  and  a  dear  old 
Methodist  preacher  on  board  appealed  to  me  to  help 
him  stop  the  "  scandalous  thing."  He  said  that  these 
people  were  going  to  hell  before  our  eyes,  and  that  we 
ought  to  protest.     Still  the  dance  went  on. 

We  have  a  "  concert."  Great  rulers  of  darkness,  is 
there  any  punishment  sufficient  for  the  fiend  incarnate 
who  first  devised  the  "  ship's  concert  "  .?  That  is  the 
night  when  people  who  cannot  sing  on  the  key  sing  on 
your  nerves.  It  is  the  hour  when  the  fellow  who  can- 
not recite  for  sour  apples  recites  by  the  yard.  It  is 
the  night  when  the  fellow  who  can't  talk  is  sure  to  make 
some  "  remarks."  I  am  persuaded  that  sinking  at  sea 
is  a  terrible  experience,  but  I  am  also  sure  that  that 

35 


alone  is  the  one  thing  to  be  dreaded  more  than  the 
famous  ship  concert. 

We  have  a  "  pool  on  the  run."  This  is  where  the  old 
ringer  skins  the  lamb  out  of  his  pin  money.  I  wonder 
if  the  day  will  ever  come  when  law  will  reach  the  sea 
and  stop  gambling.  Men  will  come  from  cities,  states 
and  nations  where  gambling  is  prohibited,  but  the  hour 
they  put  foot  on  an  ocean  liner  they  gamble  with  no 
law  to  interfere.  It  is  a  pity  the  sea  does  not  belong 
to  somebody. 

We  have  "  Church "  at  sea.  Thank  God  for  this 
grand  reminder  of  home,  family,  duty  and  destiny.  I 
know  the  Christian  services  on  the  ocean  have  never 
meant  so  much  to  me  as  this  time,  for  we  are  daily 
pushing  our  way  farther  from  the  spot  where  of  all 
the  earth  we  most  long  to  be.  Last  Sunday  the  great 
Bishop  Fallows  preached  in  the  morning,  and  our  team 
conducted  the  evening  meeting.  I  believe  the  people 
all  enjoyed  these  services.  The  quartet  sang,  "Re- 
member Now  Thy  Creator,"  as  one  of  their  selections, 
and  afterwards,  on  deck,  the  "  la-de-da  "  boy  brushed 
up  to  me,  and,  wishing  to  be  complimentary,  spoke 
of  Robins'  and  my  addresses  appreciatively,  and  then 
said,  "  That  was  a  charming  selection  by  the  quar- 
tet. I  say,  sir,  was  that  one  of  Kipling's  poems  ?  " 
I  could  have  jiujitsued  him.  After  all,  that  is  about 
on  a  par  with  a  good  deal  of  deck  talk.  Two  men 
yesterday  debated  at  length  whether  a  ship  was  kept 
afloat  by  the  strength  of  the  salt  in  the  sea,  or  by 
its  speed.  They  said  that  river  boats  floated  because 
they  were  made  of  wood,  but  that  a  steel  ship  would 
sink  in  the  Hudson  River!  And  so,  amid  this  round 
of  life,  we  are  plowing  our  way  to  the  great  far  East. 

If  we  can  claim  any  distinction  for  our  voyage,  it 
might  be  in  the  presence   of  the  Fallows   party  made 


up  of  the  Bishop,  Mrs.  E.  H.  Fallows,  Mr.  S.  Fal- 
lows, Miss  A.  R.  Fallows,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  D.  Fox, 
Mr.  Albert  Stevens  Crockett,  Mr.  Chessman  Kitt- 
redge,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Leo  H.  Wise,  and  Captain  and 
Mrs.  C.  B.  Humphrey.  Mr.  S.  Fallows  is  a  son  of 
Bishop  Fallows,  of  Chicago.  The  old  Bishop  is  along 
as  chaplain.  They  are  going  out  to  investigate  the 
commercial  future  of  the  Philippine  Islands.  There 
are  all  sorts  of  rumors  about  what  great  enterprises 
they  are  going  to  launch  if  they  find  the  conditions 
favorable.  We  have  found  them  a  grand  lot  of  high- 
minded  people,  and  they  have  made  the  long  days  less 
wearisome. 

Of  course,  our  Men  and  Religion  party  of  seven  has 
furnished  the  opportunity  for  a  deal  of  speculation 
also.  One  man  asked  me  if  we  were  being  sent  out 
by  the  ]\Iorgan  interests  to  get  a  report  upon  the 
religious  status  of  the  Philippine  Islands,  and  to  de- 
cide what  kind  of  a  church  would  best  be  adapted  to 
those  people.  So  you  can  see  we  are  still  having  our 
troubles  with  Wall  Street! 

But  if  we  are  to  claim  any  unique  factor,  it  must 
be  that  when  we  reached  the  180th  meridian,  we 
dropped  out  a  Sunday !  We  reached  that  famous  line 
at  six  o'clock  Saturday  night,  and  so  Sunday  had  to 
go.  We  went  to  bed  Saturday  night,  slept  about  ten 
hours  and  woke  up  Monday  morning.  That  is  speed 
enough  to  keep  the  Wright  Brothers  and  INIarconi 
busy  for  some  time.  However,  the  Captain  and  the 
generous-hearted  passengers  decided  that  Monday 
should  be  observed  as  Sunday,  and,  therefore,  in  spirit 
we  lost  Monday  instead.  I  wish  you  could  hear  all  the 
wise  speculations  about  this  loss  of  a  day.  It  is  funny, 
and  as  mentally  racking,  as  the  old  "  13-14-15  puz- 
zle."    "  Do  the  folks  at  home  actually  get  the  best  of 

37 


us  one  day  ?  "  "  Do  they  get  that  much  more  sleep, 
or  when  do  we  lose?  "  "  Do  we  turn  our  watches  ahead 
thirty  minutes  now  instead  of  back  as  we  did  before  ?  " 
"  Will  we  be  a  day  ahead  or  behind  when  we  get  all  the 
way  around?  "  One  man,  the  most  profound,  thought 
he  gave  a  solution  by  saying,  "  Why  don't  they  cut 
out  one  day  everywhere  at  the  same  time?"  Then 
everybody  will  be  even."  Personally,  I  give  it  up,  and 
as  I  feel  to-day  I  shall  not  stop  off  at  Fire  Island  to 
debate  about  the  calendar  when  I  get  that  close  to 
home. 

These  long  stretches  of  travel  and  time  are  severe 
strains,  and  only  a  sense  of  doing  God's  work  could 
keep  us  patient.  I  have  met  some  men  who  are  going 
to  the  Philippines  for  dollars  only,  and  are  leaving 
their  families  behind.  One  man  says  he  does  not  ex- 
pect to  see  his  family  for  three  years.  I  think  if  it 
made  the  difference  between  their  being  hungry  or 
being  fed,  I  might  go,  but  certainly  not  just  to  put 
some  money  in  the  bank. 

When  you  get  this,  we  will  be  pulling  hard  in  Hong- 
kong. It  will  be  our  most  difficult  city.  Remember  us 
there.  We  do  not  forget  you  and  the  co-operating 
friends  for  one  day. 

Very  best  greetings, 

Fred.  B.  Smith. 


38 


On  Steamer  Chikugo  Maru  of  the  Nippon  Yusen  Kaisha 
Steamship  Co.,  Japan  to  China,  February  21,  1913. 

My  dear  Mr.  Cannon:  Having  finished  our  cam- 
paign in  Japan,  we  are  now  catching  our  breath  and 
getting  a  little  rest  of  forty-eight  hours  as  we  cross  the 
China  Sea  before  beginning  work  in  Shanghai.  I  send 
back  to  you  a  greeting,  and  a  little  message  concerning 
the  progress  of  the  Kingdom  in  this  far-away  land.  I 
do  not  know  that  I  ever  found  it  more  difficult  to  write 
any  intelligent  or  adequate  statement  concerning  any 
piece  of  work  in  which  I  have  been  engaged.  There  have 
been  running  through  my  mind  so  many  things  about 
which  I  would  like  to  write  to  you,  and  yet  there  is  such 
a  confusion  in  it  all  that  I  do  not  know  whether  I  can 
state  anything  so  that  you  can  clearly  understand  it. 
The  fact  is,  I  believe  if  I  would  stop  over  here  for  a 
while  without  undertaking  to  learn  the  language,  it 
would  not  be  very  long  before  I  would  go  raving  mad 
trying  to  make  myself  understood.  You  try  to  pene- 
trate this  life  with  an  ordinary  idea,  and  you  have  had 
a  crowd  of  Japanese  standing  around  listening  and  say- 
ing "  Yes  !  yes  !  yes  !  "  to  everything  you  say.  Present- 
ly you  discover  that  they  have  not  understood  one  jot 
or  tittle  of  it  all,  that  you  have  wasted  your  energy  for 
nothing,  and  after  a  while  you  feel  as  though  you  would 
just  like  to  jump  up  and  down.  We  have  been  through 
so  many  of  these  experiences  that  I  do  not  know  whether 
I  can  dictate  an  intelligent  letter,  and  I  am  not  quite 
sure  but  that  Lathrop's  pen  has  gotten  so  fogged  with 
the  Japanese  dialect  that  even  that  may  refuse  to  work. 

39 


For  such  a  brief  time  as  we  have  had,  it  would  be  dar- 
ing for  me  to  say  much  about  the  country  or  the  people. 
While  we  have  been  here,  they  have  had  one  of  their 
greatest  national  holidays,  the  one  known  as  "  Empire 
Day,"  to  commemorate  the  founding  of  the  Japanese 
Empire  about  twenty-three  hundred  years  before  Christ, 
and  therefore  a  whirlwind  world  tourist  needs  to  go 
pretty  cautiously  about  giving  out  cock-sure  ideas. 
Yet,  I  think  there  is  something  very  beautiful  about  the 
unrestrained  first  impressions  of  any  new  country.  I 
have  often  wished  that  I  could  be  thrilled  again  by  Lon- 
don as  I  was  the  first  time  I  saw  it.  Those  first  throbs 
are  grand  experiences  in  any  new  country.  This  has 
been  especially  true  in  Japan.  I  think  the  first  impres- 
sion is  that  everything  seems  to  be  upside  down  and 
inside  out.  Everything  at  first  seems  to  be  reversed; 
the  signs  read  up  and  down  instead  of  horizontally ;  the 
people  walk  to  the  left  instead  of  to  the  right;  they 
wear  white  for  mourning  instead  of  black;  at  funerals 
they  laugh  instead  of  weep ;  the  "  back  yards  "  are  in 
front  of  the  house  instead  of  in  the  rear.  Then  to  top 
it  all  off,  their  "  zitas,"  wooden  shoes,  rattle  like  a 
regiment  of  cavalry  coming  down  the  road.  Altogether 
it  just  seems  a  general  confusion.  And  yet,  when  you 
have  waited  a  little  while,  it  is  the  old,  old  story — they 
are  busy  about  the  same  things  that  everybodj^  else  is 
busy  about.      It  is  the  problem  of  bread,  life  and  God. 

I  presume,  however,  of  the  more  striking  things  we 
will  always  remember  that  we  were  here  during  one  of 
the  great  political  upheavals.  I  have  no  doubt  that  the 
New  York  papers,  especially  one  I  know  of,  had  some 
very  lurid  coloring  concerning  the  riots  in  Tokyo  on 
the  11th.  But  we  were  there,  and  were  in  the  Imperial 
Hotel,  where  the  crowds  did  throw  some  stones  through 
the  front  windows,  but,  after  all,  it  was  like  a  Sunday- 

40 


school  picnic  compared  with  getting  a  street  car  at  the 
Brooklyn  Bridge  about  five  o'clock  any  night,  and  I 
would  rather  take  my  chances  any  time  in  a  Tokyo  riot 
than  to  be  on  Broadway  on  New  Year's  or  election 
night.  We  saw  a  little  of  it.  We  saw^  the  crowds  and 
w^e  knew  the  place  was  disturbed.  While  upon  the  sur- 
face it  was  not  violent,  down  deep  the  very  foundations 
of  the  empire  were  being  moved.  Nobody  says  out 
loud  that  it  is  finally  directed  at  the  Imperial  throne, 
but  around  in  quiet  corners,  there  is  a  whispered  mur- 
mur and  an  asking  w^hether  or  not  the  same  thing  may 
not  be  happening  in  Japan  which  has  happened  in 
China.  Prince  Katsura,  the  Prime  Minister,  and  the 
entire  Cabinet  resigned  because  they  were  not  liberal 
enough  in  democratic  principles  to  satisfy  the  great 
mass  of  the  people.  All  that  is  lacking  in  Japan  now 
seems  to  be  a  Sun  Yat  Sen  to  literally  sweep  them 
through  to  a  full  republican  form  of  government. 

I  think  if  I  were  with  you  now  and  were  trying  to 
tell  you  some  of  the  outstanding  impressions,  perhaps 
the  first  I  would  name  would  be  the  awful  apparent 
struggle  to  live.  As  I  remember  India,  I  think  possibly 
it  is  equal  to  Japan  in  this  respect,  but  certainly  India's 
struggle  is  not  more  severe  than  is  that  of  the  Japanese. 
Nearly  fifty  millions  of  people  crowded  upon  these  little 
islands  present  a  food  problem  that  is  simply  over- 
whelming. If  we  ever  farm  the  United  States  as  closely 
and  carefully  as  they  are  farming  Japan,  we  can  take 
care  of  a  billion  people.  It  is  perfectly  amazing  to  see 
little  plots,  four  feet  square,  that  have  been  banked  up 
and  made  into  wheat  and  rice  fields.  Every  possible 
spot  of  ground  which  can  yield  a  vegetable  or  cereal 
is  made  to  work.  This,  of  course,  involves  a  fierce 
labor  problem. 

Apparently,  the  cheapest  labor  in  Japan  is  that  of 
41 


women.  We  have  seen  them  doing  every  kind  of  heavy 
task,  which  in  our  country  would  only  be  undertaken  by 
modern  steam  and  electrical  appliances.  Just  the  other 
day  I  saw  about  thirty  women  around  an  immense  pile 
driver  pulling  the  hammer  up  by  hand  to  drive  the  piles 
where  a  new  bridge  was  being  constructed. 

The  next  cheapest  labor  here  evidently  is  that  of  men. 
One  of  the  most  frequent  sights  is  that  of  a  man  hitched 
up  to  a  load  positively  big  enough  for  the  best  horse 
in  New  York  State.  The  more  astonishing  thing  is 
that  he  makes  it  go.  He  does  not  kick,  balk  or  falter. 
We  have  heartrending  conditions  among  working  peo- 
ple, but  we  have  nothing  which  approaches  the  situation 
here.  Robins  has  investigated  with  care  this  question, 
and  finds  that  children  get  from  four  to  eight  cents  per 
day,  women  get  twelve  to  eighteen  cents  and  men  twenty- 
five  to  thirty-five  cents.  There  are  no  labor  laws  regu- 
lating hours,  ages,  compensation  or  conditions,  although 
they  are  now  being  agitated.  Of  course,  the  wages  paid 
must  be  considered  in  relation  to  the  cost  of  living,  which 
is  low,  but  not  enough  to  give  one  full  meal  a  day  upon 
this  basis.  This  is  one  of  the  problems  of  the  Church, 
for  a  missionary  may  preach  his  head  off  to  a  starving 
people  to  no  avail.  Great  changes,  however,  are  going 
to  be  brought  about  rapidly,  for  the  best  men  of  the 
nation  are  keen  for  improvement. 

Then,  of  course,  I  would  seem  not  to  have  been  prop- 
erly impressed  by  Japan  if  I  failed  to  make  mention  of 
"  Fuji."  We  were  particularly  fortunate  in  coming 
into  the  harbor  of  Yokohama  to  have  the  morning  clear, 
bright  and  sunshiny,  and  Fuji,  the  great  mountain,  was 
in  view  at  her  best.  I  do  not  wonder  that  the  people 
rave  oyer  it.  It  mounts  up  there  high  above  the  small 
buildings  and  rather  miniature  people,  miniature  trains, 
miniature   everything,   grand  enough   to    challenge  the 

42 


attention  of  the  whole  world,  twelve  thousand  feet  of 
eternal  pure  white  snow.  I  am  sure  there  is  not  a  more 
beautiful  sight  anywhere  on  earth  than  this  great  moun- 
tain, and  it  is  not  at  all  strange  that  they  should  include 
it  in  their  objects  of  worship. 

But  of  all  the  things  in  Japan,  that  which  is  con- 
stantly brought  to  your  attention,  everywhere  and  every 
day,  is  the  delightful  and  wonderful  courtesy  of  the 
people.  I  venture  the  assertion  that  it  is  not  equalled 
anywhere  in  the  world.  To  us  rather  untutored 
westerners,  it  is  quite  amusing  to  see  them  bow  and  then 
bow  again  and  yet  again.  I  have  watched  people  com- 
ing into  meetings  bowing  and  bowing  to  each  other 
until  I  thought  I  would  have  to  go  outside  and  have  a 
good  laugh.  Every  Japanese  speaker,  when  he  rises, 
before  he  begins  his  address,  makes  a  low  bow.  I  think 
±here  have  been  twenty-five  times  when  I  have  seen  a 
speaker  make  this  introductory  bow  that  I  have  bowed 
my  head,  supposing  prayer  was  to  be  offered,  and  then, 
after  keeping  my  head  down  for  a  while,  I  would  find 
out  it  was  only  the  courtesy  of  the  speaker  in  thus 
presenting  himself  to  the  audience.  I  assure  you  that 
this  supreme  courtesy  is  no  formal  characteristic.  It 
is  not  affected,  it  is  not  put  on,  it  is  real  and  genuine, 
and  I  wish  we  westerners  could  learn  some  of  it.  It 
would  do  us  good. 

While,  of  course,  we  are  not  out  here  to  study  the 
commercial  or  economic  problems,  yet  we  are  everywhere 
face  to  face  with  the  reconstruction  which  is  going  on. 
Modern  business  methods  are  rapidly  possessing  the 
land.  Great  factories  are  being  built  for  producing 
woolen,  silk,  linen  and  steel  goods,  and  very  soon  the 
old  order  of  the  famous  hand  work  by  the  Japanese 
women  in  the  home  will  disappear.  Their  banks  are 
modern ;  their  rural  delivery  of  mails  and  parcel-post 


system  make  ours  look  a  century  old  and  out  of  date. 
They  are  the  most  thirsty  people  in  the  world  for  educa- 
tion. Any  school  or  college,  at  morning,  noon  or  night, 
will  be  crowded.  You  not  infrequently  see  jinrikisha 
boys  sitting  over  a  charcoal  fire  reading  books,  papers 
and  magazines. 

During  the  year  1912,  they  exported  $6,000,000 
worth  of  tea,  $7,000,000  worth  of  rice  and  $67,000,000 
worth  of  silk.  I  could  not  learn  the  amount  of  the  ship 
building  and  steel  manufacturing  industries,  but  they, 
too,  are  large.  The  change  is  swift,  and  you  may  be 
sure  that  in  all  the  reckonings  of  the  future,  com- 
mercially, socially  and  politically,  as  well  as  religiously, 
Japan  must  be  given  a  large  place  in  consideration. 

In  this  reconstruction  I  venture  to  say  that  the  great- 
est thing  that  is  happening  is  the  new  birth  in  the  realm 
of  religion.  Of  all  these  nations  that  are  now  spoken- 
of  as  non-Christian,  I  feel  no  hesitancy  in  saying  that 
Japan  presents  the  most  unique  situation.  There  is  no 
state  or  national  religion.  While  Buddhism  leads 
numerically,  it  does  not  lead  in  influence,  for  the  great 
men  of  Japan — great  politically,  commercially  and 
socially,  are  not  Buddhists.  They  say  freely  that 
Buddhism  cannot  be  Japan's  religion,  and  now,  by  an 
official  act,  every  religion  is  placed  upon  a  par.  There 
is  to  be  no  preference  shown.  Not  only  this,  but  the 
most  remarkable  thing  in  this  country  happened  in  De- 
cember when  the  national  Minister  of  Education  called 
together  some  picked  representatives  of  Buddhism, 
Shintoism  and  Christianity,  and  said  to  them  that  what 
Japan  was  standing  most  in  need  of  at  the  present  time 
was  a  new  moral  awakening,  and  that  he  felt  sure  this 
could  only  be  brought  about  by  a  vitalization  of  religion. 
He  then  called  upon  the  representatives  of  each  of  these 
faiths  to  put  up  a  more  vigorous  program.      This  pre- 

44 


sents  a  most  ovenvhelming  opportunity  for  the  Christian 
forces  to  show  what  they  can  do.  Buddhism  is  evidently 
seeing  the  handwriting  on  the  wall,  and  I  believe  that 
Buddhists  are  rallying  themselves  for  their  last  tre- 
mendous fight,  so  far  as  Japan  is  concerned. 

Contact  with  this  faith  is  not  altogether  new  to  me. 
I  have  known  a  little  of  it  before,  but  never  until  the  past 
few  days  have  I  seen  Buddhist  priests  out  on  the  streets 
preaching.  Old  missionaries  tell  us  that  they  have  not 
seen  the  like  of  it  in  fifty  years.  I,  myself,  have  recent- 
ly seen  a  dozen  of  these  meetings.  In  other  words,  the 
Buddhists  are  so  aroused  over  the  trend  of  things  that 
they  have  sent  out  a  clarion  call  for  their  priests  to  go 
out  on  the  streets  and  begin  to  evangelize,  and  they  are 
at  it  hard.  There  is  no  minimizing  the  fact  that  there 
is  an  awful  fight  on  here.  Buddhism  will  contend  for 
every  inch  of  the  ground,  Shintoism  is  not  so  vigorous, 
and  the  wisest  men  say  that  it  will  rapidly  disappear. 

Over  against  this  stands  the  wonderfully  inspiring 
triumph  of  Christianity.  I  wish  some  of  our  half- 
hearted Christian  people  who  go  at  their  religion  as 
though  it  were  an  irksome  task  could  get  a  look  at  the 
ripened  fruit  of  Christianity  as  it  stands  out  here  in 
bold  relief  against  these  non-Christian  influences.  It  is 
simply  magnificent ! 

It  is  true  that  there  are  only  about  two  hundred  thou- 
sand Protestant  church  members  in  the  Empire,  but 
when  you  think  that  this  has  been  brought  about,  start- 
ing from  nothing  about  fifty  years  ago,  it  is  nothing  less 
than  a  miracle.  The  first  Protestant  Christian  convert 
in  Japan  was  baptized  in  Yokohama  in  1864.  The 
supreme  evidence  of  the  growth  of  the  Gospel  of  Jesus 
Christ  is  found  not  in  the  work  of  the  foreign  mission,- 
aries  who  are  here,  unspeakably  grand  as  that  is,  but 
in  the  independent  churches  which  are  springing  up  all 

45 


over  the  country.  I  took  a  picture  the  other  day  of  a 
very  beautiful  Congregational  church  with  a  high  spire 
reaching  above  everything  around  it,  with  a  cross  on 
top,  the  church  facing  the  grounds  of  the  Emperor's 
palace,  and  the  park  where  only  a  few  years  ago,  they 
were  hunting  the  Christians  down  and  assassinating 
them  at  sight. 

I  cannot  begin  to  attempt  to  name  the  great  Japanese 
preachers  we  have  met  out  here,  but  many  of  the  men 
with  whom  we  have  come  into  contact  would  be  accept- 
able ministers  for  our  strongest  churches  at  home  or 
anywhere.  They  are  princely  men.  I  think  I  can  un- 
derstand now  what  Mott  meant  when  he  said  at  the 
close  of  his  recent  journey  that  he  believed  Christianity 
was  so  thoroughly  established  in  Japan  that  if  we  should 
let  it  die  out  in  North  America,  these  Japanese  would 
cross  the  seas  and  re-evangelize  us.  I  believe  that  thor- 
oughly. I  am  sure  I  have  met  Japanese  Christian 
leaders  out  here  who  would  not  hesitate  to  lay  down 
their  lives  if  necessary  to  evangelize  any  part  of  the 
world. 

The  other  night  in  Yokohama,  I  received  in  one  room 
the  evidence  of  this  romance  of  Christian  power  and 
growth.  I  stood  talking  to  the  grand  old  Dr.  Loomis, 
missionary  of  the  American  Board,  who  came  out  here 
something  like  fifty  years  ago.  When  he  arrived,  there 
were  known  to  be  just  twelve  professing  Japanese  Chris- 
tians throughout  the  whole  Empire.  While  he  stood 
talking  with  me,  he  turned  and  pointed  across  the  room 
at  a  fine  type  of  Japanese  minister,  and  said,  "  Some 
years  ago  I  baptized  that  young  man  as  one  of  my  con- 
verts, and  he  is  now  the  pastor  of  an  entirely  independ- 
ent, self-supporting  church  of  1,126  members." 

Then  along  by  the  side  of  the  growth  of  these  inde- 
pendent  Japanese  churches,   there   comes   the   work  of 

46 


Rev.    C.    Nakayama,    thirty-eight    years     Methodist    minister 
in  Japan 


the  great  Christian  schools  and  colleges.  We  have 
visited  so  many  of  them  that  I  could  not  attempt  to  tell 
you  about  them  all,  but  two  have  made  the  greatest 
impression  upon  me.  One  is  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
School  Aoyama  at  Tokyo,  of  which  Dr.  Agata  is  Presi- 
dent. They  have  nine  hundred  students.  It  was  just 
like  a  good  old  time  Methodist  Church  when  I  had  the 
privilege  of  speaking  to  them.  The  other  school,  and 
the  one  which  I  suppose  has  most  influenced  the  Empire, 
is  the  famous  Doshisha  at  Kyoto,  founded  by  that  mar- 
velous Christian  Neesima,  who,  without  any  doubt, 
burned  up  his  life  prematurely  in  working  for  its  wel- 
fare, and  over  which  Dr.  Horada  now  presides  as  Presi- 
dent. They  have  over  a  thousand  boys,  and  I  think  it 
is  fair  to  say  that  it  is  a  pretty  difficult  thing  for  any 
boy  to  go  through  a  four  or  five  years'  course  under 
that  influence  and  not  come  out  a  Christian.  These, 
however,  are  only  types  of  many  more  where  we  had 
the  privilege  of  holding  meetings. 

Then  there  are  hospitals  and  libraries  and  settlements. 
The  fact  is,  these  mighty  missionaries  are  not  forgetting 
anything  that  can  possibly  help  to  exemplify  Jesus 
Christ. 

Another  token  of  victory  is  the  splendid  work  of  the 
Young  Men's  Christian  Associations.  There  has  never 
been  a  day  in  my  life  when  I  was  gladder  to  be  a  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association  secretary  than  in  Japan. 
I  have  visited  nations  and  countries  where  you  were 
made  to  feel  a  bit  ashamed  to  be  classified  as  an  Associa- 
tion secretary,  but  you  can  hold  your  head  up  high  in 
Japan  with  that  title.  Their  work,  of  course,  is  not 
perfect,  and  it  never  will  be,  but  I  will  say  that  I  have 
never  seen  such  a  volume  of  high  grade  work  being  done 
under  such  handicaps  as  I  have  witnessed  in  these  Young 
Men's  Christian  Associations  in  Japan.      They  are  led 

47 


and  largely  influenced  first  of  all  by  the  statesmanlike 
spirit  of  the  National  Secretary,  Galen  M.  Fisher.  He 
would  not  thank  me  for  any  fulsome  praise,  but  I  de- 
clare to  you,  I  cannot  help  saying  that  he  is  about  one 
of  the  biggest  men  in  our  whole  Brotherhood,  at  home 
or  abroad.  And  associated  with  him  in  various  capaci- 
ties are  Andrews,  Jorgenson,  Phelps,  Wilbur,  Gleason, 
Hibbard,  Trueman  and  Davis,  while  there  is  coming  to 
the  front  the  Japanese  leadership  under  such  powerful 
men  as  Niwa,  Komatsu,  Yamamoto,  Kurahara,  Omura, 
Tsunashima  and  Takabatake. 

We  have  splendid  buildings  at  Tokyo,  Kyoto,  Naga- 
saki and  Kobe.  There  are  a  dozen  other  cities  which 
ought  to  have  buildings,  but  the  two  most  marked  needs 
are  at  Yokohama,  a  city  of  450,000  people,  and  where 
they  are  now  doing  work  in  some  terribly  crowded  and 
ineflicient  rented  quarters,  and  at  Osaka,  the  Pittsburgh 
of  Japan,  with  a  million  and  a  quarter  of  inhabitants. 
Osaka  has  shops,  factories  and  mills  of  every  descrip- 
tion, while  the  Association  has  an  old  building  put  up 
twenty-five  years  ago,  thoroughly  worn  and  out  of  date, 
and  yet  the  other  night  in  that  building  we  had  over 
six  hundred  men  in  the  gospel  meeting,  and  at  the  very 
same  hour  there  were  over  four  hundred  young  men  in 
educational  classes.  They  were  crowded  in  like  sardines 
in  a  closely  packed  box. 

/  shall  come  home  ready  to  look  square  in  the  eye 
every  man  xvho  has  ever  spent  a  dollar  in  any  form  of 
Christian  zeork  in  Japan  and  tell  him  that  he  has  gotten^ 
his  full  money's  worth,  and  that  he  is  an  honored  man. 

I  must  say  at  least  a  word  about  our  own  work. 
We  have  visited  and  worked  in  Yokohama,  Tokyo, 
Kyoto,  Osaka,  Kobe  and  Nagasaki.  If  anybody  had 
said  to  me  before  we  started  that  we  could  make 
such    an   impression    in  Japan    as   I   am  told  we   have 

48 


made,  I  could  not  have  believed  it.  It  has  been  be- 
yond our  greatest  faith.  We  have  had  three  types  of 
meetings.  The  one  that  has  been  given  the  most  prom- 
inence has  been  the  series  of  conferences  of  church  offi- 
cers, pastors  and  missionaries.  These  in  every  city  have 
run  to  about  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  in  attendance, 
and  in  all  except  one  place,  we  have  had  a  fair,  un- 
hurried opportunity  to  discuss  the  whole  method  of  the 
Men  and  Religion  Movement  with  these  people.  We 
saw  the  Men  and  Religion  program  fit,  as  though  it  was 
made  from  Heaven,  some  of  the  situations  in  our  own 
country,  but  I  am  perfectly  sure  it  never  seemed  to  fit 
in  any  situation  more  powerfully  than  out  here.  They 
have  flocked  around  us  with  words  of  appreciation.  So 
urgent  has  become  the  need  of  giving  all  the  Christian 
forces  of  Japan  this  message  of  the  Men  and  Religion 
Movement  that  we  are  having  printed  a  pamphlet  in 
Japanese  upon  the  Movement,  including  all  of  the 
charts  we  used  at  home  and  some  special  recommenda- 
tions based  upon  our  conferences  with  pastors  and  mis- 
sionary leaders.  This  will  spread  the  Men  and  Religion 
Movement  all  over  Japan.  The  younger  pastors,  es- 
pecially, have  snapped  at  it.  There  have  been  three 
things  in  our  presentation  which  seem  to  be  of  peculiar 
help  to  these  earnest  Christian  workers.  First,  we  have 
urged  upon  every  Young  Men's  Christian  Association 
and  every  Church  to  carry  on  this  type  of  work  them- 
selves by  organizing  the  lay  forces.  This  has  been  a 
rather  new  note,  especially  in  the  churches.  Second, 
the  undreamed-of  way  in  which  Robins'  message  has  been 
received.  I  think  the  big-hearted  fellow  himself  was 
doubting  a  little  as  to  whether  he  could  make  his  type  of 
message  adaptable  in  this  country,  but  I  believe  honestly 
and  sincerely  that  its  unique  place  is  even  more  signifi- 
cant here  in  Japan  than  it  was  at  home.      They  have 

49 


every  problem  we  have,  including  boys'  work,  the  vice 
question,  labor  problems  and  welfare  movements.  They 
are  all  here.  Robins  has  been  sought  by  municipal 
officers,  mayors,  college  presidents  and  politicians. 
They  will  long  remember  this  Social  Service  message  and 
messenger.  The  third  is  the  quartet.  Of  course,  we 
knew  they  would  help  tremendously,  not  only  with  their 
music,  but  by  their  valiant  service  in  personal  work,  shop 
and  factory  meetings,  but  there  was  a  vastly  more 
significant  element  with  which  we  had  not  reckoned. 
The  Japanese  churches  are  having  a  struggle  to 
adapt  and  develop  the  right  kind  of  gospel  music. 
They  are  in  some  places  organizing  men's  choruses. 
There  are  a  few  male  quartets,  doing  some  singing, 
but  it  is  rather  in  its  preparatory  stage,  and  all  along 
the  line  the  missionaries  have  spoken  in  loudest  praise 
of  the  influence  of  the  quartet,  not  only  for  their  im- 
mediate spiritual  message,  but  because  they  are  going 
to  set  the  standard  for  a  lot  of  work  of  that  kind.  I 
am  satisfied  that  there  will  be  a  great  awakening  in  the 
question  of  gospel  music  following  the  work  of  the 
quartet. 

In  addition  to  these  conferences  with  Christian 
workers,  we  have  had  large  opportunities  with  non- 
Christians,  especially  in  the  Universities.  It  has  been 
our  unique  privilege  to  hold  meetings  without  any  limita- 
tions or  restrictions  whatever  in  every  great  University 
in  the  country.  This  reached  its  climax  in  an  invitation 
to  have  Robins  speak  in  the  Imperial  University  at 
Kyoto,  this  being  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  that 
institution  when  an  invitation  had  been  extended  to  a 
professional  Christian  speaker.  He  was  invited  there 
without  any  strings  attached  to  him  whatever,  and  he 
gave  them  just  the  same  kind  of  a  message  that  he  has 
been    giving    everywhere.      One    of    the    professors,    a 

50 


=  i 


O  C5 

3 


Shinto,  who  presided  at  the  meeting,  was  gracious 
enough  to  send  a  note  down  to  me  that  evening  at  the 
hotel,  thanking  me  for  the  privilege  of  having  had  Mr. 
Robins  at  the  University. 

Again  and  again  we  have  held  meetings  in  the  largest 
auditorium  available,  and  have  been  unable  to  get  into 
it  all  the  men  who  came.  I  spoke  in  the  Association  at 
Tokyo  on  the  second  night  there,  with  the  men  packed 
in  everywhere,  and  standing  outside  at  the  windows. 

At  Kyoto  we  had  a  riot.  The  hall  will  seat  about 
twelve  hundred  comfortably.  They  admitted  sixteen 
hundred  and  fifty,  then  the  crowd  outside  who  could  not 
get  in  nearly  tore  down  the  front  of  the  building  de- 
manding admission.  They  had  to  keep  somebody  at 
the  front  door  during  the  whole  evening,  explaining 
that  the  hall  was  full  and  that  they  could  not  admit 
any  more. 

Thus  you  can  see  that  God  has  opened  for  us  a  very 
wide  door  of  service  even  in  the  little  time  we  were  in 
Japan. 

Possibly  you  will  get  a  little  view  of  the  spirit  of 
appreciation  manifested  by  our  Association  fellows  in 
the  following  extract  taken  from  a  card  which  just 
came  to  us  from  Gleason,  General  Secretary  of  the 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association  at  Osaka : 

"  Dear  Smith,  Robins,  Gilbert,  Metcalf,  Keeler,  Peck, 
Lathrop  and  various  trunks,  typewriter,  cameras, 
charts,  etc.,  etc.  A  few  words  would  fail  to  tell  you 
how  much  we  have  appreciated  your  brief  visit.  But 
there  is  no  doubt  that  it  is  hearty.  Come  again  as  soon 
as  you  can.  You  are  a  fine  lot,  roses  without  thorns, 
peaches  without  stones,  and  genuine  good  fellows. 
Your  spirit  of  no  criticism  and  honest  desire  to  serve 

51 


has    left    only    pleasant    memories    behind    you.      Our 
prayers  go  with  you." 

I  shall  not  try  to  tell  you  very  much  about  the 
special  events.  The  fact  is,  we  have  not  permitted 
ourselves  to  go  sight-seeing  very  much,  but  we  have 
sandwiched  in  visits  to  some  of  the  most  interesting 
places.  We  have  seen  some  of  the  great  temples  at 
Kamakura  and  the  wonderful  "  Shiba  "  at  Tokyo,  and 
then  it  is  just  temples,  temples,  temples  everywhere. 
Paul  Gilbert  said  yesterday  that  he  hoped  he  never 
would  have  to  look  at  another  temple  as  long  as  he 
lived.  You  can  catch  something  of  the  power  of  this 
when  I  tell  you  there  are  ten  thousand  Buddhist  priests 
in  Kyoto  alone,  and  about  as  many  Buddhist  temples. 

There  has  been  one  very  amusing  feature  all  along 
the  way  in  the  presence  of  a  few  women  in  every  meet- 
ing. Of  course  our  meetings  are  supposed  to  be  for 
men  and  boys  only,  but  these  Christian  women  rebel 
against  that  exclusive  idea,  and  when  the  secretaries  re- 
monstrate with  them,  they  say  their  "  inheritance  "  in 
Christianity  is  a  right  to  go  to  the  meetings.  They 
have  for  so  long  endured  the  oppression  of  Buddhism 
and  Shintoism  that  they  now  propose  to  exercise  their 
gospel  liberty,  and  "  Men  Only  "  signs  at  religious  meet- 
ings do  not  affect  them  at  all.  Really,  it  is  a  beautiful 
thing,  even  if  they  have  disconcerted  some  of  our  nicely 
laid  plans.  Nothing  grander  can  be  said  for  Christian- 
ity than  the  contrast  between  the  women  of  non-Chris- 
tian lands  and  those  dominated  by  the  Gospel,  so  we 
gladly  surrendered. 

We  have  enjoyed  being  entertained  at  some  of  the 
famous  Japanese  dinners.  You  ought  to  see  me  double 
up  on  the  floor  in  front  of  a  charcoal  fire  and  cook 
sukiyaki.     It    is    a   great    combination.     I  would   give 

52 


forty  dollars  to  see  you  try  it.  Positively  all  you  get 
for  implements  is  a  couple  of  chop  sticks.  If  you  can- 
not get  some  rice  and  chopped  vegetables  and  meat  on 
those  two  sticks,  you  starve,  that  is  all.  I  thought  that 
some  of  the  hosts  would  come  to  our  rescue,  but  they 
do  not  help  you  a  bit.  And  yet  these  are  little  social 
events  never  to  be  forgotten,  and  we  would  have  been 
sorry  enough  had  we  missed  them.  We  had  one  of 
them  in  a  student  hostel  at  Tokyo  where  about  forty 
of  us  sat  on  the  floor  in  one  little  room.  We  had 
fifteen  of  the  charcoal  fires  going,  and  a  chafing  dish 
on  each.  We  had  another  at  Osaka  with  about  the 
same  number,  and  there  had  a  company  of  pastors 
and  missionaries  who  gave  us  the  story  of  the  Christian 
conquest  of  Osaka  in  a  way  that  I  suppose  we  never 
would  have  gotten  it  at  all  had  we  not  been  at  that 
dinner. 

We  had  the  peculiar  privilege  and  honor  of  being  in- 
vited to  go  through  the  Emperor's  palace  at  Kyoto. 
Our  American  Ambassador  Anderson  very  kindly  got 
us  the  permit. 

Then  what  shall  I  say  about  jinrikishas.''  Upon  my 
soul,  I  have  climbed  into  one  of  those  jinrikishas  so  many 
times  and  started  out  for  a  two  or  three  mile  run,  with 
a  boy  pulling  me  who  was  about  one-third  my  size,  when 
I  have  been  ashamed  of  myself,  yet  that  is  about  the 
only  means  of  transportation.  There  is  no  such  thing 
as  a  hack  or  carriage  to  be  had.  The  larger  cities  have 
street  cars  going  upon  certain  principal  thoroughfares, 
but  usually  it  is  a  jinrikisha  or  you  do  not  go,  and 
how  those  little  Japanese  can  pull  and  run!  I  can- 
not understand  it.  They  run  all  the  time.  There 
is  no  such  thing  as  stopping  to  walk  until  they  have 
reached  the  end  of  the  journey.  The  penalty  for 
my  size  is  usually  to  pay  excess  fare.     I  do  not  be- 

53 


lieve  there  is  a  jinrikisha  boy  in  all  Japan  (and  there 
are  about  a  million  of  them)  who  cannot  speak  enough 
English  to  say  "  Very  heavy  man."  They  may  not 
be  able  to  say  anything  else,  but  they  all  have  that 
much. 

Perhaps  the  outstanding  memory  will  be  the  little  fare- 
well tea  and  reception  which  was  tendered  us  in  Tokyo 
the  last  afternoon  we  were  there.  Our  men  felt  that  it 
was  a  most  significant  and  wonderful  gathering.  The 
following  gentlemen  met  us  and  spent  about  two  hours 
in  an  informal  conference,  speech-making,  and  tea :  Hon. 
S.  Ebara,  President  of  the  Tokyo  Young  Men's  Chris- 
tian Association  and  a  member  of  the  House  of  Peers, 
Mayor  Baron  Sakatani,  Prof.  Dr.  Anazaki,  Professor 
of  History  and  Philosophy  of  Religion  in  the  Imperial 
University,  Baron  N.  Kikkawa,  graduate  of  Harvard 
and  a  member  of  the  House  of  Peers,  Dr.  F.  Uzawa, 
M.P.,  Barrister,  Counsel  in  Korean  Conspiracy  Trial, 
Baron  N.  Konda,  graduate  of  Amherst  and  Dean  of 
Higher  Commercial  School,  Dr.  H.  Fuknoka,  graduate 
of  Yale  University  and  Professor  of  International  Law, 
Imperial  University,  Prof.  T.  Suguira,  Ph.D.,  Professor 
of  St.  Paul's  University,  Rev,  K.  Tsunashima,  graduate 
of  Yale  Seminary  and  Pastor  of  a  Congregational 
Church,  Dr.  T.  Namae,  graduate  of  Wesleyan,  Char- 
ity Expert,  Department  of  Interior,  Mr.  S.  Otsuka, 
Director,  Club  Work,  South  Manchuria  Railway,  Mr. 
A.  Hayashi,  Manager,  Imperial  Hotel,  and  Mr.  K.  Yam- 
amoto.  General  Secretary  of  the  Tokyo  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association.  Mayor  Baron  Sakatani  in  his 
remarks  said :  "  We  owe  a  good  deal  to  you  westerners. 
You  have  helped  us  in  many  of  our  ideals  of  government 
and  commerce.  But  along  with  the  incoming  of  bene- 
ficial western  ideas,  there  has  been  the  penalty  of  the 
breakdown   of  the  old  order  of  religion,  and  we  have 

54 


o.ti  5 
2  S  2 

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o 
O 


lost  what  restraining  power  it  had.  Now  the  west  ought 
to  be  willing  to  do  a  great  deal  for  us  in  helping  to 
establish  some  form  of  religion  which  will  take  the  place 
of  that  which  we  have  lost."  He  then  paid  a  most 
cordial  tribute  to  all  missionaries  and  Christian  workers, 
but  with  peculiar  commendation  for  the  work  of  the 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association.  He  is  not  a  Chris- 
tian, and  spoke  not  from  the  standpoint  of  a  man  who 
was  convinced  of  the  truth  of  Christianity,  but  rather 
from  the  standpoint  of  one  of  their  great  leaders  in 
public  and  political  life  who  sees  the  need  of  some 
form  of  moral  energy  to  take  hold  of  this  country  in  the 
hour  of  its  awful  need. 

Most  of  our  contact,  of  course,  had  been  in  the  great 
crowded  cities,  and,  were  peculiarly  glad  to  be  able  to 
get  an  afternoon  last  week  in  what  is  known  as  the 
"  Mustard  Seed  Mission  "  at  Hachiman,  at  some  dis- 
tance from  the  railroad.  The  missionary  in  charge  is 
William  M.  Vories.  He  came  out  here  seven  years  ago 
and  asked  that  he  be  sent  back  to  some  interior  place 
where  he  could  begin  a  work  right  from  the  foundation. 
It  is  almost  beyond  belief  to  see  what  that  man  has 
accomplished  during  that  time.  He  is  an  architect  by 
profession,  and  like  the  famous  Apostle  Paul,  he  de- 
sired to  earn  his  own  way,  so  that  he  is  self-supporting. 
He  has  built  a  hospital,  a  good  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association  building,  a  splendid  school,  and  has  bought 
and  established  an  experimental  farm  three  miles  out  in 
the  country  so  that  he  can  help  the  Japanese  farmers 
in  better  methods.  Altogether  he  has  literally  trans- 
formed the  life,  not  of  only  the  village  but  of  the  whole 
community  round  about. 

I  am  sure  you  can  understand  that  there  is  a  good 
deal  of  tenderness  out  here  as  we  meet  those  homesick, 
hard-worked    missionaries.     This    has    been    especially 

55 


true  in  the  singing  of  the  quartet.  When  they  hear 
some  of  the  old  hymns  they  used  to  sing  and  have  not 
heard  for  a  long  time,  we  get  a  little  view  into  the 
depths  of  their  hearts,  and  see  how  hungry  many  of 
them  are  for  home.  God  pity  the  Christian  at  home 
who  is  failing  to  share  in  their  battle. 

Yesterday,  as  we  were  en  route  to  Nagasaki,  Dr.  J.  H. 
Pettee,  a  representative  of  the  American  Board,  was 
at  the  train  to  meet  us  at  Okayama,  where  we  made  a 
little  stop.  He  had  with  him  four  or  five  missionaries, 
and  about  twenty  of  his  associate  workers,  Bible  women, 
evangelists  and  village  preachers.  Some  of  them  had 
traveled  long  distances  just  for  the  privilege  of  getting 
a  look  at  us  for  that  stopover  of  ten  minutes. 

I  must  not  fail  to  tell  you  about  our  achievement  yes- 
terday in  getting  away  from  Nagasaki.  As  a  part  of 
the  penalty  of  trying  to  penetrate  this  life  with  our 
ordinary  English  language,  instead  of  being  checked 
from  Kobe  to  Nagasaki,  my  two  trunks  were  checked  In 
the  opposite  direction  and  were  sent  to  Osaka,  with  the 
result  that  when  I  arrived  in  Nagasaki  ready  to  sail  for 
China,  I  had  about  two  collars,  one  shirt  and  a  hand- 
kerchief. We  started  the  telegraph  wires  working  as 
hard  as  we  could,  but  by  the  closest  possible  connections, 
my  trunks  would  not  arrive  at  Nagasaki  until  6:10,  and 
the  boat,  the  Chikugo  Maru  of  the  Nippon  Yusen 
Kaisha  Line,  was  scheduled  to  sail  at  4  o'clock  in  the 
afternoon.  I  put  on  my  best  smile  and  called  upon  the 
gallant  Captain  K.  Sato  and  asked  him  if  it  would  be 
possible  for  him  to  hold  the  boat  two  hours.  I  was 
told  before  going  by  the  officers  of  the  Company  in 
Nagasaki,  and  by  the  editor  of  the  paper,  an  English- 
man who  has  been  out  here  many  years,  that  it  would 
be  absolutely  useless  to  make  the  request,  for  it  had  not 
been  done  in  the  history  of  the  Company,  and  that  the 

56 


boat  always  started  exactly  on  the  minute,  just  as  the 
railroad  trains.  After  an  interview  in  which  I  conveyed 
to  the  Captain  the  nature  of  our  work,  and  how  much 
I  needed  my  trunks,  he  said  he  would  hold  the  boat 
until  6:30.  We  were  all  in  great  glee  over  it.  We 
finished  our  work,  then  I  went  to  the  railroad  station, 
only  to  learn  that  by  a  later  development  the  trunks 
could  not  arrive  until  7 :58.  I  thought  then,  of  course, 
that  it  was  all  up  with  me,  and  that  we  would  have  to  go 
on  without  my  trunks,  and  it  looked  as  though  we  could 
not  get  them  before  reaching  Manila,  possibly  not  until 
we  arrived  in  Australia.  Under  this  pressure,  I  went 
back  to  the  ship,  found  all  of  our  fellows  standing  with 
the  Captain  anxiously  awaiting  the  news,  and  we  were  a 
rather  depressed  lot  when  I  told  them  that  the  trunks 
could  not  arrive  until  8  o'clock.  Then,  in  the  gentlest 
voice  of  which  I  am  capable,  I  asked  the  Captain  if  he 
could  hold  the  boat  until  8  :30,  which  would  mean  four 
hours  and  a  half  wait.  He  asked  me  if  I  had  some  impor- 
tant papers  in  my  trunks.  I  thought  a  man  was  justified 
in  saying  he  had,  even  though  the  most  critical  thing 
involved  was  a  clean  shirt,  and  so  I  assured  him  that 
there  were  important  documents  in  both  trunks.  Then, 
with  that  marvelous  Japanese  courtesy,  he  quietly  said 
that  he  would  wait  until  8 :30.  It  created  a  commotion 
of  course.  I  am  satisfied  that,  way  down  deep  in  this 
man's  heart,  the  real  reason  was  that  either  he  himself 
is  almost  persuaded  to  be  a  Christian  or  else  that  he  has 
a  son  who  has  been  in  some  of  our  Young  Men's  Chris- 
tian Associations,  or  that  some  of  his  family  are  Chris- 
tians. I  am  hoping  yet  to  get  the  secret  from  him. 
Surely  it  was  some  touch  of  that  kind  in  his  life,  for 
it  has  never  been  done  before,  we  were  told  that  it  could 
not  be  done,  and  for  any  ordinary  commercial  proposi- 
tion it  would  not  have  been  done.     Anyway,  we  prac- 

57 


ticed  our  true  Americanism  and  held  up  one  of  the 
Imperial  Government's  steamers  for  four  and  a  half 
hours  while  we  hunted  up  some  lost  trunks. 

I  do  not  know  whether  I  have  written  you  that  our 
party  has  been  increased  by  one.  Coming  out  from 
Honolulu,  we  were  delighted  to  find  that  Mr.  Alexander 
Hyde,  son  of  our  mighty  friend  Mr.  A.  A.  Hyde  of 
Wichita,  was  a  passenger  on  the  same  boat.  He  was 
coming  out  on  business,  and  inasmuch  as  he  has  to  go 
half  way  around  the  world  and  cannot  reach  home  in 
any  case  until  June,  we  urged  him  to  accompany  us,  and 
he  has  decided  to  do  so.  He  is  a  royal  fellow,  and  we 
are  going  to  enjoy  his  company  very  much. 

I  need  not  tell  you  that  sometimes  we  ourselves  get 
mighty  homesick.  Of  course  our  task  is  not  to  be  put 
in  the  same  list  with  that  of  these  folks  who  come  out  to 
stay,  but,  after  all,  ours  has  its  difficulties.  We  are  con- 
stantly thinking  of  home,  and  are  ever  and  again  re- 
minded of  our  duties  there,  yet,  amid  it  all,  as  the  weeks 
pass,  I  think  we  know  more  fully  every  day  that  God  is 
leading  us  and  that  He  prompted  the  undertaking.  I 
think  I  would  be  willing  to  give  five  years  out  of  my 
life  if  that  were  the  only  way  by  which  I  could  have 
delivered  this  message  in  Japan.  I  am  as  sure  as  I  am 
of  life  that  this  sounding  out  of  the  message  of  the  Men 
and  Religion  Movement  is  going  to  go  down  in  history 
to  the  glory  of  God  and  of  the  Church,  not  only  at 
home,  but  around  the  world. 

I  am  afraid  I  have  written  you  so  much  that  you 
will  weary  in  reading,  but  I  cannot  help  the  desire  to 
write  to  somebody,  for  I  want  some  of  these  impressions 
to  be  so  recorded  that  they  may  possibly  live  for  a  long 
time  to  come. 

Yours  very  sincerely, 

Fred.  B.  Smith. 

58 


Lieut.-Col.  Yamamuro  of  the  Japanese  Salvation  Army 


VI 

On   Steamer  DerffUngeVy  Hongkong  to  Manila,  P.  I., 
March  5,  1916. 

Dear  Mr.  Cannon:  Whatever  purpose  God  had  in 
our  being  in  China  for  a  little  while,  is  fulfilled,  or  at 
least  we  have  closed  the  active  personal  part  in  it  for 
the  present,  and  now  we  are  out  on  the  big  sea  again 
en  route  to  Manila.  Thinking  over  these  days  and  of 
you  and  of  home,  I  have  felt  almost  as  though  I  would 
not  write  a  single  word  about  China.  We  have  only 
seen  the  port  cities,  and  that  does  not  give  any  adequate 
idea  of  such  a  vast  country.  Then,  too,  we  have  just 
been  knocked  endways  by  what  we  have  seen. 

If  I  write  you  of  present  convictions,  I  may  be  in 
peril  of  giving  a  wrong  idea,  for  there  is  another  side 
to  everything,  and  it  seems  impossible  to  try  to  inter- 
pret our  experiences  without  injustice  to  somebody.  I 
think  I  wrote  you  in  something  of  the  same  refrain 
about  Japan,  but  the  situation  is  vastly  more  compli- 
cated here.  However,  there  are  a  few  convictions  I  am 
prepared  to  record  anywhere,  for  I  am  sure  they  are 
founded  on  facts. 

Perhaps  the  comment  which  has  broken  most  fre- 
quently and  involuntarily  from  our  lips  has  been  "  Poor 
China !  "  Here  are  at  least  400,000,000  people,  and 
they  seem  so  helpless  as  viewed  from  their  contact  with 
the  powerful  great  North  American  and  European 
nations.  This  is  most  marked  at  Shanghai  and  Hong- 
kong. At  each  there  is  a  European  settlement  that  is 
as  modern  as  London,  Paris,  Berlin,  New  York  or 
Chicago,   with   massive   buildings,   wide    streets,    boule- 

59 


vards,  parks  and  gardens.  Then  in  five  minutes'  ride 
in  jinrikishas  you  are  in  the  "  old  city,"  where  you 
would  not  think  human  beings  could  exist.  Streets 
too  narrow  for  two  people  to  walk  abreast;  cats, 
dogs,  pigs,  chickens,  men,  women  and  children  all  hud- 
dled in  the  same  rooms.  There  is,  of  course,  an  element 
of  the  better  class  who  live  in  affluent  circumstances, 
but  they  are  only  a  drop  in  the  great  sea  of  the  millions. 
Christianity  has  a  problem  of  housing  and  helping 
people  to  know  how  to  live,  as  well  as  of  teaching  the 
Bible,  if  China  is  to  be  redeemed. 

Then  there  seems  so  much  to  be  done  to  get  really 
started  here.  There  are  no  labor  laws  of  any  kind. 
We  have  seen  little  seven-year-old  girls  working  in  mills 
fourteen  hours  without  a  stop  for  a  bite  to  eat.  They 
must  eat  with  one  hand  while  they  keep  the  spindle 
going  with  the  other,  and  the  whole  for  the  princely 
sum  of  ten  cents  per  day.  We  saw  old  women  and 
young  girls  carrying  thirty-eight  bricks,  at  nine  pounds 
per  brick  (three  hundred  and  forty-two  pounds),  up  a 
mountain  two  thousand  feet  high,  to  build  a  mansion. 
Every  brick  and  board  in  it  is  being  transported  up 
there  by  that  labor  at  about  fifteen  cents  per  day.  We 
have  severe  labor  problems  in  America,  but  if  anywhere 
in  the  United  States  there  was  such  a  scene  as  I  wit- 
nessed at  Hongkong,  the  nation  would  be  in  an  uproar 
in  twenty-four  hours.  There  is  no  adequate  educational 
law.  The  women  of  all  except  the  higher  caste  prac- 
tically cannot  read  or  write  at  all.  The  contrast  in 
these  respects  between  Japan  and  China  is  very  great. 
The  Japanese  have  labor  laws,  compulsory  education, 
interest  laws  and  much  very  progressive  legislation. 
China  has  it  all  to  do. 

Then,  again,  China  is  terribly  in  the  grip  of  the 
white  man.    There  are  fourteen  different  "  settlements  " 

60 


A  typical  Chinese  coolie  fisherman 


in  Shanghai,  each  one  of  them  governed  by  some  Euro- 
pean or  American  power.  Of  course,  among  these  men 
there  are  some  grand  men,  true,  honest  and  sincere ;  but 
the  rank  and  file  of  them  are  out  here  to  exploit  the 
Chinese,  squeeze  the  blood  out  of  them  and  get  back 
home  with  the  spoils.  That  may  seem  harsh,  but  it  is 
a  fact.  They  hate  the  missionaries  and  Sun  Yat  Sen, 
Yuan  Shi  Kia,  Wu-Ting-Fang,  Wong  Ching  Hui,  Ivan 
Chen  and  all  the  rest  of  the  Republicans,  because  they 
are  disturbing  their  game.  One  very  prominent  official 
in  Hongkong  has  openly  declared  that  he  does  not  want 
to  see  anything  done  for  the  "  damn  Chinamen."  They 
are  having  to  fight  their  way  up  against  great  odds. 

I  am  persuaded  of  this :  If  I  were  to  be  a  missionary 
in  any  non-Christian  land  I  would  want  to  get  clear 
away  from  the  influence  of  the  white  man.  That  is  a 
terrible  thing  to  say,  yet  I  am  forced  to  believe  it, 
not  only  by  personal  observation,  but  by  the  unbroken 
testimony  of  the  missionaries  we  have  met.  Added  to 
these  problems  is  the  financial  crisis  of  the  government. 
Here  is  a  nation  of  unlimited  resources.  No  engineer 
has  been  found  great  enough  to  give  any  estimate  of 
the  iron  ore  of  the  interior  mountains.  It  is  so  vast 
that  it  cannot  be  computed.  Baron  Van  Richthofen, 
who  was  sent  out  by  the  German  government  to  investi- 
gate the  coal  deposits,  says  that  there  is  enough  coal  in 
China  to  supply  the  whole  world  for  two  thousand  years. 
Their  agricultural  asset  is  also  inestimable.  Yet  they 
seem  unable  thus  far  to  get  their  products  marketed 
to  advantage,  and  therefore  the  burden  of  debt  threatens 
almost  the  very  life  of  the  nation. 

However,  I  must  not  give  you  too  somber  a  view,  for 
notwithstanding  these  distressing  facts,  great  China  is 
arousing  herself,  and  no  power  can  stop  her.  They 
have  mighty  men;  we  have  met  some  of  them.     They 

61 


have  seen  a  great  light  and  are  determined  that  the 
present  order  shall  be  changed.  The  revolution  is  a 
marvel  in  itself.  Other  nations  for  a  far  less  issue  shed 
rivers  of  blood.  Our  own  dear  land  purchased  the 
liberty  of  four  million  slaves  at  an  awful  cost.  Just 
now  we  are  reading  the  story  of  the  brutality  and  un- 
warranted murder  and  assassination  of  the  Mexican 
rebellion  and  that  in  a  land  that  the  religious  maps 
mark  as  Christian.  The  Chinese  have  carried 
through  the  most  unprecedented  reformation  with  but 
very  little  bloodshed.  A  nation  was  born  almost  in  a 
day  out  here,  and  despite  the  jingoist,  the  demagogues 
and  the  white  politicians,  the  best  thinking  people  here 
have  no  doubt  that  it  has  come  to  stay. 

Then  upon  every  hand  we  heard  the  story  of  the 
break-down  of  the  old  orders  of  religion.  I  myself 
took  a  picture  of  the  old  temple  in  Kowloon  where  the 
idols  are  tumbling  down  and  pigs  had  taken  the  place 
for  a  convenient  pen.  While  this  is  going  on,  Christian- 
ity is  blossoming  in  a  thousand  ways.  Vastly  more 
than  in  church  buildings  and  members  only.  Hospitals, 
libraries,  schools,  colleges,  universities,  medical  dispen- 
saries, model  prisons,  homes  for  the  blind,  the  deformed, 
the  insane  and  other  unfortunates,  are  springing  up 
everywhere.  Many  of  these  are  now  under  municipal 
supervision,  though  they  freely  say  that  Christianity 
brought  the  ideal. 

Here,  as  in  Japan,  I  have  been  most  interested  to 
learn  how  far  the  independent,  self-supporting  Chinese 
Church  has  been  developed,  and  that  is  the  deepest 
cause  for  courage  and  thanksgiving.  Churches  of  three 
hundred,  four  hundred,  six  hundred,  eight  hundred  and 
one  thousand  members  are  not  infrequent,  where  there 
has  never  been  a  dollar  of  direct  missionary  money  in- 
vested.     They    are    rising   to    their   opportunities    and 


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I 

Mr.  C.  S.  Liang,  of  Hongkong,  editor  of  the  first  Christian 
daily  paper  in  China 


have  a  moral  determination  that  cannot  easily  be 
thwarted.  This  is  evidenced  not  only  by  the  rapidity 
of  the  revolution  and  the  establishment  of  a  republican 
form  of  government,  but  in  the  wiping  out  of  the  opium 
traffic,  which  is  one  of  the  marvels  of  the  twentieth  cen- 
tury. We  of  the  west  have  but  a  poor  conception  of 
what  was  involved.  Not  only  was  there  the  deep- 
seated  habit  of  the  people,  but  the  financial  loss  was 
terrific.  The  best  authorities  place  the  lowest  estimate 
at  $14452^25,000  loss  in  the  three  years  necessary  to 
readjust  the  land  to  other  crops,  to  say  nothing  of  the 
great  commercial  firms  that  were  wiped  out  of  existence 
in  a  day.  They  anticipated  the  critic  who  said  "  pro- 
hibition wouldn't  prohibit,"  and  they  made  the  violation 
of  the  law  punishable  by  death.  Needless  to  say,  it 
prohibits.  While  investigating  this,  I  could  not  help 
being  ashamed  of  my  own  country  on  the  whiskey  ques- 
tion. AVe  are  nursing  in  our  bosom  a  w^orse  devil  than 
opium,  and  are  dealing  out  maudlin  bosh  about  the 
property  interests  involved,  and  the  fear  that  the  law 
cannot  be  enforced,  and  a  lot  more  cheap  talk  too 
ridiculous  for  a  country  that  produced  Abraham  Lin- 
coln.     The  Chinese  have  answered  that  kind  of  stuff. 

They  have  also  to  their  credit  the  open  educational 
policy  which  came  with  one  sweep.  Ten  years  ago  no 
man  could  think  of  holding  any  public  office  except  he 
be  a  member  of  the  "  Literati,"  a  graduate  of  the  old 
form  of  Government  examination.  To-day  it  is  as  open 
as  Canada  or  the  United  States. 

There  must  also  be  observed  the  cutting  off  of  the 
**  pig  tails  "  almost  in  a  single  day.  This  may  not  be  in 
the  same  class,  but  it  does  carry  the  same  general  lesson. 
The  long  cue  was  regarded  as  the  insignia  of  the  old 
order  of  politics  and  religion,  and  when  they  started, 
they  finished  the  job.     There  are  only  a  few  left  in 

63 


central  or  southern  China.  I  was  taking  a  photograph 
one  day  of  the  seven  hundred  students  in  the  day  edu- 
cational school  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Associa- 
tion of  Shanghai.  A  boy  with  a  pig  tail  tried  to  slip 
into  the  group.  You  ought  to  have  seen  them  go  after 
him.  They  chased  him  clear  over  a  stone  wall  into  an- 
other street.  Because  of  our  distance  from  China  we 
have  but  a  poor  idea  of  what  is  happening  there  in  these 
lines.  It  is  wonderful,  and  is  an  earnest  of  what  may 
be  expected  in  the  years  to  come. 

No  wonder  greedy  commercial  men  are  suspicious 
of  the  missionaries,  for  on  every  hand  it  is  freely  com- 
mented that  these  "  fancy  notions  "  are  the  result  of  the 
teaching  of  the  principles  of  the  Gospel  by  the  mission- 
aries. These  results,  plus  growing  churches,  missions 
and  Young  Men's  Christian  Associations,  answer  abso- 
lutely the  query  about  the  final  triumph  of  the  Christian 
faith  in  great  stirring  China.  Remembering,  too,  that 
Morrison  began  his  missionary  work  in  1807,  and 
worked  until  1814  before  he  baptized  his  first  convert. 

You  are  expecting  me  to  tell  something  of  our  own 
work,  and  I  must  hasten  or  I  will  have  wearied  you  be- 
fore I  get  to  it.  The  message  and  method  here  again 
seemed  to  fit  as  though  it  had  been  prepared  especially 
for  China.  I  wish  you  men  who  are  so  vitally  back  of 
us  could  hear  some  of  the  comments  of  these  mission- 
aries and  Christian  workers.  American  Consul-General 
Wilder  of  Shanghai,  in  bidding  me  goodbye,  said  that 
he  felt  it  to  be  the  greatest  mission  of  that  character 
which  he  had  witnessed  during  his  stay  of  ten  years 
in  the  Orient.  Perhaps  the  following  letter  from  Rev. 
Edward  Evans  of  the  China  Christian  Literature  So- 
ciety will  give  you  a  little  idea  of  how  our  work  is  being 
received. 


"  Shanghai,  China,  February  22,  1913. 
Dear  Brother  Smith:  My  heart  is  full  of  thanks- 
giving after  that  meeting  this  P.M.  You  have  made 
an  impression  here  in  these  days  beyond  my  most  san- 
guine hopes.  There  has  been  the  clear  note  of  healthy 
utterance  throughout,  with  the  so  evident  endorsement 
of  the  Holy  Spirit.  God  bless  you.  I  pray  that  you 
will  be  led  to  come  here  again,  for  you  have  a  work  to 
do  in  this  place.  I  feel  sure  of  it,  and  shall  ask  the 
Lord  to  keep  it  on  your  heart. 

Yours  in  His  service, 

(Rev.)  Edward  Evans." 

Totaling  our  whole  work  since  leaving,  we  have  held 
158  different  meetings  with  a  complete  attendance  of 
37,161.  Robins  has  spoken  87  times  and  I  have  spoken 
88  times.  The  quartet  has  sung  345  times  and  attended 
125  meetings. 

Out  of  the  multitude  of  impressions  and  thoughts 
that  have  been  filling  our  minds  during  these  days, 
there  are  three,  I  think,  which  take  the  supreme  place. 

First. — The  responsibility  of  the  people  of  Christian 
lands  to  extend  the  Gospel  to  these  less  privileged  of 
the  Orient  is  not  simply  a  sentimental  thing.  It  is  with 
us  as  an  irresistible,  unchangeable  law.  We  cannot  es- 
cape from  it  if  we  would.  "  Bear  ye  one  another's 
burdens  and  so  fulfil  the  law  of  Christ  "  will  have  to 
be  cut  out  of  our  Bibles  or  else  we  must  stand  by  this 
missionary  program  until  it  is  finished.  This  is  not 
only  a  Biblical  injunction,  but  we  westerners  have  been 
marvelously  successful  in  exporting  all  of  our  vices,  and 
ought  to  be  equally  diligent  in  extending  our  virtues. 
For  instance,  the  open  saloon  with  its  music  and  attend- 
ant attractions  was  never  known  in  China  until  western 
civilization   came   over  here   and  established   it.     I  am 

65 


told  by  the  best  authorities  that  chicanery  in  business, 
graft  and  the  like  were  unknown  elements  in  their  life 
until  our  up-to-date  western  men  appeared  upon  the 
scene.  And  there  are  other  things  I  might  name  which 
are  far  worse.  If  we  had  no  missionaries  here  they 
would  utterly  misunderstand  us,  and  I  am  afraid  we 
would  be  put  down  as  being  more  heathen  than  any 
people  on  earth.  Therefore  not  only  from  the  Christian 
standpoint,  but  from  the  standpoint  of  a  moral  cor- 
rective, we  are  committed  to  transplanting  the  Christian 
gospel  to  this  non-Christian  land.  And  oh,  how  gladly 
we  ought  to  give  ourselves  to  it!  I  thank  God  for  the 
privilege  of  being  over  here  for  what  we  have  been  able 
to  do,  but  even  more  than  that,  I  am  grateful  for  this 
little  touch  because  it  may  give  me  a  new  power  in 
testifying  at  home  for  the  whole  Foreign  Missionary 
propaganda. 

Second. — The  evangelization  of  North  America  is 
essential  to  world  success.  Just  as  intensely  as  I  be- 
lieve in  our  duty  to  the  Orient,  equally  so  do  I  believe 
that  the  evangelization  of  the  world  will  never  be  accom- 
plished without  the  evangelization  of  North  America. 
I  would  say  nothing  but  kindest  words  of  appreciation 
for  the  Christian  Englishmen,  Scotchmen  and  Germans 
I  have  met  in  Japan  and  China,  but  after  all,  I  do  not 
believe  that  they  have  quite  that  breadth  of  vision  con- 
cerning the  indispensable  place  of  Christianity  in  the 
lives  of  these  people  that  has  been  vouchsafed  to  the 
men  of  Canada  and  the  United  States.  We  of  the 
North  American  continent  are  millionaires  by  the  grace 
of  God,  not  only  in  resources  of  money,  but  in  capacity 
to  give  it  away  in  freedom  from  caste  and  in  wise  method 
of  attack.  We  ought  not  to  boast  of  our  leadership, 
but  with  great  humility  to  proceed  to  see  to  it  that  the 
Christian  standards  at  home  are  exalted  as  they  never 

m 


have  been  before.  I  have  already  expressed  myself 
concernmg  the  unfavorable  mfluence  of  certain  types  of 
white  men  out  in  this  needy  region.  The  first  night  we 
were  in  Shanghai,  we  had  the  privilege  of  meeting  with 
all  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  secretaries 
and  their  families  in  their  weekly  conference  and  prayer 
meeting.  The  remarkable  thing  to  me  was  that  the 
burden  of  their  anxiety  and  of  their  prayers  that  night 
was  more  largely  centered  upon  the  European  and 
American  men  than  upon  the  question  of  the  conversion 
of  the  Chinese.  That  is,  the  winning  of  the  Chinese 
now  is  comparatively  an  easy  proposition,  but  when 
these  missionaries  met  on  that  night,  I  thought  there  was 
some  irony  in  the  fact  that  they  were  lifting  all  their 
hearts  in  prayer  that  God  would  somehow  overrule 
the  distressing  influences  of  Europeans  and  Americans. 
It  is  simply  terrific  to  think  that. these  nations  which  we 
call  Christian  should  be  sending  out  to  the  port  cities 
of  this  nation  of  400,000,000  people,  in  the  hour  when 
it  is  so  ready  to  accept  Christianity,  some  representa- 
tives of  such  low  morals  that  the  missionaries  who  are 
sent  out  primarily  to  work  for  the  natives  have  to  invest 
a  good  deal  of  their  power  in  undoing  the  unfavorable 
effect  of  the  non-Christians  of  their  own  lands. 

I  would  not  have  you  think  that  from  the  missionary 
standpoint  the  battle  is  over,  or  is  even  past  its  desper- 
ate stages.  The  strength  of  the  Church  in  the  great 
centers  is  only  equalled  by^  the  weakness  of  it  in  some 
of  the  interior  regions.  We  traveled  with  a  Methodist 
missionary  printer  who  is  running  a  printing  establish- 
ment on  the  border  of  Tibet,  and  he  told  us  of  there 
being  16,000,000  Tibetians  without  a  single  missionary 
of  the  Gospel  among  them.  Only  a  few  have  ever 
penetrated  that  region,  and  every  one  who  has  gone  in 
was  martyred.     And  yet  the  striking  part  of  it  is  that 

67 


there,  on  the  border  of  that  land  of  16,000,000  people 
in  absolute  moral  darkness  and  destitution,  there  are 
missionaries  learning  that  language,  waiting  for  a 
chance  to  get  in.  What  a  picture  that  is  of  the  power- 
ful urgency  which  the  Gospel  implants  in  the  human 
heart!  These  missionaries  who  are  thus  waiting  know 
what  has  been  the  fate  of  those  who  have  gone  before. 
Notwithstanding  that,  they  are  ready  to  be  the  next  to 
carry  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  into  that  forbidden 
territory. 

/  hope  the  time  will  come  when  our  United  States 
Government  will  not  think  of  sending  a  man  out  to  any 
form  of  official  responsibility  unless  he  is  known  to 
be  a  clean-cut,  straight-out  Christian  man. 

Third. — I  am  more  thoroughly  convinced  than  ever 
before  that  our  religion  is  one  of  supernatural  origin. 
A  man  may  be  a  kind  of  a  fake  Christian  at  home, 
where  there  are  plenty  of  churches  and  plenty  of 
Christian  restraints  surrounding  him,  but  he  won't 
fake  very  long  when  you  put  him  out  in  a  life  of  this 
kind.  It  tells  the  story  quickly.  If  his  relation  to 
Christ  is  real,  he  abides;  if  not,  he  soon  drops  by  the 
way.  It  is  nothing  short  of  an  undertaking  that  verges 
on  insanity  to  come  out  here  and  expect  to  see  conditions 
in  China  and  Japan  redeemed  by  anything  less  than 
supernatural  power.  It  is  most  interesting  to  talk  to 
men  and  see  the  contrast.  The  unconverted  and  worldly 
man  sums  up  his  whole  idea  by  saying  "  Damn  the 
Chinamen  I  "  or  "  Damn  the  Japanese !  "  He  sees  no 
change  taking  place,  and  he  dares  hope  for  nothing  bet- 
ter in  the  future.  But  these  mighty  warriors  of  God 
who  have  no  doubt  that  they  themselves  have  experienced 
a  supernatural  transformation,  believe  that  that  Divine 
influence  which  has  worked  wonders  of  grace  in  their 
lives,  can  be  effective  here,  and  they  have  no  more  sense 


than  simply  to  proceed  to  apply  the  Gospel  all  the  time, 
carrying  with  them,  by  the  eye  of  faith,  the  picture 
of  a  redeemed  Orient.  I  do  not  believe  I  have  ever 
seen  a  day  when  I  had  no  faith  in  the  truth  of  the 
Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ,  but  I  know  I  can  testify  now 
that  it  is  deeper,  more  thoroughly  fixed  and  more  un- 
changeable than  ever. 

All  along  the  line,  mixed  in  with  our  work,  there  is 
constantly  an  element  of  tremendous  humor  and  spice 
which  helps  very  much  in  carrying  the  burden  of  the 
work.  Nine  times  out  of  ten,  when  we  are  dealing  with 
the  ordinary  Chinaman,  he  gets  everything  we  undertake 
to  tell  him  mixed  up  and  turned  around,  and  finally 
does  just  what  you  do  not  anticipate.  While  in  Shang- 
hai, Alexander  Hyde,  who  is  traveling  with  us,  decided 
late  one  night,  to  go  up  to  Nanking.  He  went  back  to 
the  hotel  while  we  were  at  a  meeting,  wrote  me  a  note 
explaining  that  he  would  go  there  and  would  get  back 
the  next  afternoon.  Then  he  gave  it  to  the  "  boy  "  and 
told  him  to  either  put  it  in  my  room  or  pin  it  on  my 
door.  He  went  away  feeling  that  I  would  know  just 
where  he  was.  Fortunately,  one  of  the  clerks  of  the 
hotel  told  me  he  had  gone,  but  I  did  not  receive  the 
note.  When  Mr.  Hyde  got  back  the  next  afternoon, 
he  found  the  letter  he  had  written  to  me  in  his  own 
room,  lying  on  the  bed.  He  asked  the  boy  why  he 
did  not  give  the  letter  to  me  and  received  the  quiet 
answer  "  Me  no  find  pin  yet."  He  was  perfectly  honest. 
He  fully  intended  to  deliver  the  letter,  and  was  "  dili- 
gently "  looking  for  a  pin,  but  the  idea  that  a  question 
of  three  or  four  days  in  the  time  of  delivery  made  any 
difference,  never  dawned  upon  him. 

Then  we  have  had  great  sport  trying  to  get  some 
suitable  pictures.  We  have  gotten  a  few,  but  it  is  al- 
most impossible  to  get  the  really  typical  scenes.      This 

69 


again  is  in  contrast  with  Japan.  There  they  would 
walk  up  with  delight  to  be  photographed.  Here  the 
lower  classes  are  positively  frightened  out  of  their  lives 
at  the  thought  of  having  photographs  taken.  Women 
will  grab  their  children  and  run.  Men  will  hide  their 
faces  and  do  anything  to  keep  away  from  the  camera. 

In  Hongkong,  one  of  the  common  means  of  transpor- 
tation is  to  be  carried  on  the  shoulders  of  two  coolies 
in  a  big  wicker  chair  known  as  a  sedan  chair.  This  is 
not  unique  or  a  luxury.  It  is  just  as  common  as  riding 
in  a  taxicab  in  New  York  City.  We  have  tried  by 
every  kind  of  method  to  get  a  picture  of  one  of  our 
party  in  one  of  these  chairs,  and  finally  after  repeated 
devices,  we  thought  we  had  solved  the  problem.  Robins, 
Lathrop  and  others  were  to  stand  on  the  side  of  the  street 
with  their  camera  and  I  was  to  hire  a  chair  and  ride  past 
them  while  they  snapped  it.  In  some  way  these  coolie 
boys  got  hold  of  the  fact  and  they  refused  to  take  me. 
Then  two  policemen  came  up  and  they  commanded  them 
to  go,  for  the  law  is  that  if  you  ask  them  to  carry 
you  they  must  do  so.  The  policemen  told  me  to  get 
in  and  they  would  make  the  boys  carry  me.  I  did,  and 
the  boys  got  under  and  tried  to  lift  it  but  fell  flat  on 
the  ground  and  said  that  they  could  not  possibly  carry 
me  for  I  was  "  too  heavy  man."  We  worked  for  days 
trying  to  get  that  kind  of  a  picture,  and  with  five  or  six 
cameras  in  the  party  we  came  away  defeated. 

Among  the  ordinary  incidental  impressions  is  that  of 
the  delightful  dress  of  the  Chinese  women.  It  seems 
to  me  that  the  men  make  themselves  cumbersome  and  un- 
comfortable. They  wear  long,  heavy  gowns  which  must 
be  burdensome,  but  of  all  the  places  I  have  ever  visited, 
it  seems  to  me  that  the  dress  of  the  women  in  China  is 
the  most  sensible  and  unique.  They  wear  some  kind  of 
a   silk  kiinona  or  mandrin,  which   comes   about  to  the 

70 


knees,  then  loose,  silk  pantaloons,  and  now  most  of  them 
have  full-sized,  comfortable  slippers.  Better  than  all 
else,  they  wear  just  a  little  simple  cap  in  place  of  the 
vulgar,  good-for-nothing,  unscriptural,  unsanitary, 
crazy  headgear  of  our  American  women.  I  would  be 
willing  to  raise  ^  fund  of  a  million  dollars,  and  I  am 
sure  I  could  get  it,  if  I  could  get  as  reasonable  a  method 
of  dress  for  the  women  of  the  white  nations  as  have 
these  Chinese  women.  It  is  sanitary,  it  is  modest  and 
apparently  comfortable,  while  our  women  indulge  in 
the  most  unsanitary,  immodest  combination,  and  appear 
to  be  inflicting  self-torture  equal  to  any  footbinding 
the  Chinese  ever  knew. 

Another  one  of  those  impressions  that  does  not  ex- 
actly classify  itself  anywhere,  and  yet  one  with  which 
we  are  all  of  us  equally  concerned,  is  the  folly  of  the 
attempt  on  the  part  of  our  various  denominations  to 
transplant  their  denominational  distinctions  into  China, 
and  indeed  into  the  whole  Orient  for  that  matter.  I  had 
interviews  with  six  of  the  greatest  Chinese  leaders  of 
Christian  activities.  None  of  them  wished  to  have  their 
names  quoted,  for  they  did  not  want  to  seem  to  be  out 
of  harmony  with  their  own  denominations.  Every  man 
in  the  lot  said  that  this  is  one  of  the  most  serious  prob- 
lems in  the  way  of  the  progress  of  the  Church.  The 
whole  system  is  so  utterly  meaningless  to  them  that  for 
the  most  part  they  are  confused,  and  the  stronger  and 
educated  ones  are  disgusted.  I  do  not  know  that  we 
can  blame  any  one  in  particular  for  this,  for  it  is  only 
the  result  of  a  highly  intensified  denominationalism  in 
the  home  countries,  but  it  is  positively  a  calamity.  It 
would  seem  as  though  we  ought  to  have  progressed  far 
enough  to  understand  the  real  spirit  of  the  Gospel 
sufficiently  to  call  together  the  Protestant  church  forces 
and  in  some  way  to  simplify  the  method  of  procedure 

71 


for  the  future.  There  is  no  more  sense  in  having  all 
the  denominations  hammering  away  out  here,  trying  to 
propagate  themselves,  than  there  would  be  for  the 
Fourth  National  Bank  to  have  four  different  presidents 
speaking  four  different  languages.  Not  only  is  it  con- 
fusing and  disturbing  to  the  minds  of  both  the  Japanese 
and  the  Chinese,  but  the  cruel  waste  of  money  in  the 
administration  is  absurd. 

Before  closing  this  letter,  I  want  once  more  to  speak 
of  the  tremendous  power  and  unique  significance  of  the 
Associations  out  here.  One  of  the  greatest  laymen  in 
China,  a  man  who  has  repeatedly  represented  his  nation 
at  foreign  posts,  and  has  figured  very  conspicuously  in 
the  revolution  and  in  the  organization  of  the  republic, 
told  me  that  he  felt  as  though  the  Young  Men's  Chris- 
tian Association  must  have  been  ordained  from  Heaven 
just  to  fit  into  the  situation  of  the  Chinese  young  men. 
Take  just  one  Association,  which  I  am  told  is  only 
typical  of  many  others,  that  at  Shanghai.  They  have 
1,900  members  in  the  Association,  with  700  men  enrolled 
in  day  educational  classes,  and  over  500  in  systematic 
Bible  study.  Not  a  month  passes  but  that  they  send 
young  men  to  the  churches  for  Christian  baptism. 

We  of  the  North  American  Associations  may  well 
be  thankful  to  God  for  the  men  who  have  been  set 
apart  to  represent  us.  I  have  heard  nothing  but  words 
of  deepest  appreciation  for  their  work.  We  were  sorry 
to  miss  great  Brockman  at  Shanghai.  He  was  com- 
pelled to  go  on  north  with  Mott  before  we  reached  there, 
but  from  one  end  of  the  land  to  the  other  his  name  is 
the  synonym  for  unselfish  and  efficient  service.  I  do 
not  think  I  am  doing  any  injustice  to  any  other  men  irj 
Christian  callings  in  China  to  say  that  he  easily  takes 
rank  as  tlie  greatest  man  in  the  nation,  so  far  as  mis- 
sionary statesmanship  is  involved. 

72 


If  there  is  any  time  in  our  work  when  we  do  not  have 
a  meeting  to  go  to,  we  are  never  at  a  loss  for  something 
to  do,  for  when  everything  else  fails,  w^e  are  compelled 
to  go  out  and  buy  some  clothes  to  try  to  keep  in  har- 
mony with  the  new  style  at  each  place  we  visit,  or  else 
to  go  out  and  get  our  "  money  changed."  When  we 
started,  I  thought  we  had  the  orthodox  outfit.  Each 
man  was  carrying  two  business  suits,  one  cutaway,  one 
frock  coat  and  one  full  dress  outfit.  But,  dear  me,  that 
won't  get  anywhere  in  the  Orient.  When  we  got  to 
Japan,  we  had  to  get  a  certain  kind  of  a  slipper  or 
else  we  could  not  get  into  half  the  places  we  wanted  to 
visit.  I  lost  ten  pounds  getting  up  and  down,  taking  off 
my  shoes  and  putting  on  those  slippers.  Then  there 
has  been  some  new  angle  to  about  every  new  city  that 
had  to  be  met,  until  I  am  now  up  to  eleven  full  suits 
of  clothes  and  six  extra  pairs  of  trousers.  I  expect 
to  start  a  clothing  store  on  Third  Avenue  when  I  get 
back,  and  I  will  put  some  of  those  famous  clothiers  who 
come  from  near  the  ancient  Sea  of  Galilee  clear  out  of 
business.  Along  with  this,  money  changing  is  a  fright. 
In  some  places  in  China  you  have  to  carry  fourteen 
different  kinds  of  money,  for  every  time  you  cross  a 
street,  you  are  in  a  new  "  settlement  "  and  that  involves  a 
different  currency.  You  can  start  wuth  ten  dollars  in 
the  morning,  thinking  that  you  are  going  to  make  a 
small  purchase,  and  begin  to  change  your  money  to  try 
to  get  in  harmony  with  each  settlement,  and  then  decide 
you  are  going  to  try  another  place,  so  change  your 
money  again  and  you  can  come  back  to  the  hotel  about 
"  tifiin  "  time  \yithout  a  cent  and  without  having  made 
a  single  purchase.  You  simply  lose  the  whole  business 
with  exchangers'  fees.  I  have  made  one  solemn  resolu- 
tion. When  I  get  home  I  am  going  to  put  on  an  old 
flannel  shirt  and  a  pair  of  blue  overalls,  sit  down  on  the 

73 


front  porch,  stick  my  feet  over  the  railing,  and  sit 
there  for  one  full  afternoon  without  changing  my  money 
or  my  clothes. 

In  a  few  hours  we  will  be  landing  in  Manila.  We 
have  already  received  the  advance  program  for  our 
work  there,  and  are  assured  of  a  typical  eight-day  cam- 
paign. They  have  a  committee  of  seventy  men  organ- 
ized, and  are  going  to  have  everything  that  we  had  in 
any  of  our  best  campaigns  at  home  last  year.  I  can 
hardly  express  to  you  our  sense  of  gratitude  to  Almighty 
God  to-day.  From  the  night  we  left  New  York  City 
until  this  present  hour,  every  campaign  we  have  held, 
with  one  exception,  has  been  up  to  a  high  point  of 
power  and  efficiency.  We  were  somewhat  disappointed 
in  Hongkong.  I  do  not  think  they  ever  quite  under- 
stood what  we  were  trying  to  accomplish.  With  that 
one  exception,  the  work  has  been  perfectly  grand.  God 
has  opened  the  door  wide  for  us,  and  we  are  trying  to 
be  faithful. 

With  warmest  love  and  increasing  appreciation  of 
the  privilege  we  have  in  taking  this  message  around  the 
world,  I  am. 

Yours  as  always, 

Fred.  B.  Smith. 


VII 

En  route  on  Steamer  Kumano  Maru,  Manila  to  Bris- 
bane, Australia,  March  18,  1913. 

Dear  Mr.  Caxxon  :  Once  again  we  are  out  on  the 
big  blue  sea  and  are  having  one  of  our  longest  pulls — 
thirteen  days  between  Manila  and  Brisbane,  Australia. 
I  am  dictating  this  message  just  as  we  are  about  to 
cross  the  equator.  Of  course,  we  are  all  more  or  less 
nervous  about  it,  and  although  this  is  the  fifth  time  I 
have  been  across,  yet  one  never  becomes  entirely  immune 
from  anxiety,  for,  as  you  understand,  we  have  to  find 
one  of  those  open  places  to  pass  through,  and  if  the 
ship,  through  any  inadvertent  error  on  the  part  of  the 
Captain,  should  miss  one  of  these  gateways,  it  may  be 
very  serious.  We  have  been  consoled  all  day  long,  how- 
ever, by  Peck,  the  optimistic  member  of  our  party,  who 
says  he  has  been  told  that  the  government  has  widened 
these  equatorial  passages  and  that  we  will  probably  get 
through  with  a  good  deal  of  comfort  and  safety.  One 
cheerful  passenger  tells  us  that  it  is  recorded  in  history 
that  not  infrequently  ships  have  broken  right  in  two  in 
the  middle  by  the  severe  strain  in  going  over  the  line, 
and  therefore  you  can  sympathize  with  our  fears. 
Then,  of  course,  we  have  all  the  time  to  cherish  the 
thought  that  Avhen  we  once  get  over  the  equator,  we  have 
to  get  back  or  eternally  stay,  and  much  as  we  are  all  in 
love  with  the  Southern  Cross,  I  have  the  impression  that 
every  man  in  the  part}^  is  confidently  contemplating  a 
return  to  the  United  States.  Therefore,  discomforting 
as  the  thought  may  be,  we  have  to  think  of  crossing 
the  equator  twice. 

75 


In  the  messages  which  I  am  sending  back  to  you,  I 
think  you  have  already  discovered  that  there  is  some 
difficulty  in  attempting  to  write  a  report  that  is  fair  to 
all  the  people  in  the  countries  we  are  visiting,  but  I  de- 
clare to  you  that  I  do  not  know  how  to  tell  you  what 
is  in  my  heart  concerning  Manila.  One  impulse  is  to 
write  a  letter  of  scathing  denunciation  of  the  old  order 
there,  and  of  some  of  the  flimsy  present-day  methods, 
but  I  know  that  would  be  entirely  unfair  to  all  the  facts, 
and  so  I  am  bewildered  and  am  sure  I  will  write  inade- 
quately. 

Perhaps  no  one  morning  of  the  whole  trip  will  live 
longer  with  us  than  that  one  when  Robins  and  I  were 
up  at  about  three  o'clock  to  get  the  first  sight  of  the 
famous  Philippine  Islands,  We  have  worked  in  beauti- 
ful Honolulu  and  have  not  forgotten  those  days  of  great 
privilege.  We  have  worked  under  the  little  round  red 
and  white  Japanese  flag  and  have  fallen  in  love  with 
its  people.  We  have  seen  something  of  China,  and  have 
been  tremendously  stirred  by  its  need  in  its  great  port 
cities,  but  from  the  standpoint  of  American  interests, 
we  were  most  anxious  to  see  and  begin  our  work  in 
Manila. 

As  the  gray  dawn  broke  over  the  hills  and  mountains, 
and  our  good  ship  the  Derfflinger  slipped  quietly  into 
the  harbor,  we  renewed  in  memory  that  eventful  May 
1,  1898,  when  Dewey  went  in  there  with  the  fleet,  and 
so  triumphantly  sunk  the  Spanish  ships,  put  up  the 
stars  and  stripes,  and  thus  changed  the  history  of  the 
Orient.  I  am  satisfied  that  the  full  significance  of  that 
May  morning  will  not  be  understood  for  a  hundred 
years  to  come.  Dewey  was  the  human  instrument,  and 
the  sinking  of  the  Maine  under  the  shadow  of  Moro 
Castle  in  Havana  harbor,  was  a  part  of  the  way  of 
bringing  it  about,  but  I  never  believed  more  thoroughly 

76 


in  my  life  that  God  led  in  any  event  than  I  now  believe 
that  His  matchless  wisdom  was  guiding  those  ships  in 
Manila  harbor  that  morning.  It  was  not  for  national 
glory  or  American  expansion,  but  for  the  sake  of  human 
liberty.  Just  as  surely  as  Abraham  Lincoln  was  needed 
for  the  four  million  people  in  slavery  in  our  southern 
states,  just  so  surely  was  there  needed  some  power  to  be 
raised  up  for  the  delivery  of  seven  millions  of  people 
who  were  in  the  vicious,  tyrannical  grip  of  an  un- 
scrupulous system.  As  we  neared  the  breakwater  and 
the  docks,  I  do  not  believe  I  ever  saw  the  stars  and 
stripes  when  they  waved  more  gloriously. 

Words  will  utterly  fail  me,  I  am  sure,  to  fully  ex- 
press the  cordiality  of  our  reception.  We  were  met  by 
the  members  of  the  local  committee,  led  by  our  big  two- 
hundred-pound  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  sec- 
retary, Tener.  Very  soon  after  we  were  on  shore,  we 
were  hustled  away  to  the  City  Hall,  where  the  Mayor, 
Hon.  Felix  M.  Roxas,  with  the  members  of  the  City 
Council  were  waiting  to  give  us  our  official  welcome. 
After  we  had  been  properly  and  most  graciously  re- 
ceived, they  sent  us  on  an  automobile  ride  through  the 
city  to  visit  the  places  of  greatest  interest.  We  were 
also  informed  that  we  were  to  spend  one  day  at  Baguio, 
the  mountain  capital,  to  which  the  Government  officials 
move,  bag  and  baggage,  during  the  hot  season  of  the 
year,  and  that  Governor-General  Forbes  had  declared  a 
half  holiday  in  order  that  all  of  the  Government  officials 
might  be  able  to  attend  the  meetings. 

As  though  these  tokens  were  not  sufficient,  we  were 
informed  that  President  Horace  L.  Higgins  of  the  Ma- 
nila Railroad  Company,  had  granted  us  a  special  train 
free  of  expense  to  take  us  up  to  Baguio  and  return.  I 
must  a  little  later  say  something  especially  about  the 

77 


day  in  Baguio,  but  this  much  reference  to  it  as  a  part  of 
our  v/elcome. 

That  night  at  the  Manila  Hotel,  which,  by  the  way, 
is  fine  enough  to  grace  any  city  in  the  world,  we  were 
met  by  two  hundred  and  thirty-four  of  the  most  repre- 
sentative men  of  every  form  of  life,  at  the  opening 
banquet  of  the  campaign.  Thus  you  can  see  how 
favorable  was  our  entrance  into  this  American  territor)- 
of  the  far  East. 

We  found  it  somewhat  difficult  after  the  first  excite- 
ment of  the  reception,  to  get  our  minds  down  to  the  real 
issue  of  our  Men  and  Religion  campaign,  and  we  also 
found  it  difficult  to  centralize  the  thought  of  the  com- 
munity upon  it,  for  we  were  anxious  to  study  the  ques- 
tion of  the  Philippine  Islands,  and  those  resident  there 
were  anxious  to  know  what  were  our  impressions,  and 
to  learn  whether  we  had  any  inside  information  about 
the  future  attitude  of  the  American  Government  towards 
the  islands. 

Before  we  were  granted  the  privilege  of  reading  letters 
from  home,  we  were  handed  the  Manila  morning  paper 
dated  March  5th,  which  had  in  it  the  list  of  President 
Wilson's  new  Cabinet.  The  air  was  charged  with  un- 
certainty, anxiety  and  expectation,  for  many  of  these 
men  have  staked  everything  upon  the  permanent 
progress  of  the  Philippine  Islands,  and  to  them  at  least, 
this  progress  is  only  secure  by  the  continuance  of  the 
American  administration. 

I  have  known  som.ething  of  the  problem  of  coloniza- 
tion, having  had  the  privilege  of  visiting  a  good  many 
of  the  British,  Dutch  and  German  colonies,  and  I  was 
exceedingly  anxious  to  know  how  our  Americans  were 
going  to  appear  at  the  end  of  fifteen  years  of  such 
experience,    twejve    thousand    miles    away    from    home. 

78 


From  the  evidence  we  were  able  to  secure,  in  ninety  per 
cent  of  the  illustrations,  I  was  proud  of  them. 

As  accurately  as  we  could  get  the  story,  when  the 
American  troops  went  into  Manila,  they  found  it  in  a 
horrible  state  physically,  unfit  for  human  beings  to 
live  in,  in  all  except  a  small  section,  carefully  guarded 
for  Spanish  officers  and  friars.  This  is  no  dream.  I 
talked  with  many  Filipinos  and  Spaniards  who  have  lived 
there  during  all  the  years,  and  their  descriptions  were 
fierce.  As  you  entered  the  old  Walled  City,  it  was  sur- 
rounded by  what  was  called  the  moat,  filled  with  stag- 
nant water,  with  old  dirty  caribou  wallowing  in  it.  The 
streets  were  heaped  up  with  accumulated  filth.  No 
sewers,  no  electric  lights,  no  decent  water,  and  only  one 
abandoned,  unkept  park.  The  years  have  transformed 
it  into  a  place  of  beauty.  The  streets  in  all  except  one 
small  portion,  are  cleaner  than  most  of  the  streets  in 
cities  of  the  same  size  in  the  United  States.  The  moat 
has  been  filled  in  and  to-day  it  is  a  vast  plot  of  ground 
covered  with  beautiful  green  grass.  In  the  afternoons 
literally  thousands  of  men  and  boys  are  playing  base- 
ball, volley  ball  and  tennis  in  the  location  of  the  old 
foul,  stagnant  pools.  The  Luneta,  the  park  at  the 
water  front,  bids  fair  to  become  one  of  the  beauty  spots 
of  the  world.  A  modern  system  of  sewerage  has  been 
installed,  and  an  electric-light  system  reached  into  every 
corner  of  the  city.  While  many  of  the  old  native 
quarters  still  remain  with  the  rude  bamboo  cabins,  yet 
they  are  clean  and  pure. 

I  will  not  undertake  to  describe  some  of  the  moral 
conditions,  for  they  were  indescribable.  To-day  there 
is  not  a  gambling  house  in  Manila — NOT  ONE.  The 
police  are  on  the  track  of  them  as  hot  as  anything  I 
ever  saw.  To  me,  one  of  the  most  striking  things  is  the 
fact  that  here  in  a  city  of  nearly  three  hundred  thousand 

79 


population,  the}^  have  only  twenty  licensed  saloons.  If 
some  of  the  clubs  and  hotels  would  eliminate  the  drunk- 
enness which  they  tolerate,  drunkenness  would  be  reduced 
to  a  very  small  amount.  Is  it  not  enough  to  break 
your  heart  to  note  this  fact — low-down,  brawling  drunk- 
enness, not  only  in  Manila,  but  in  Hongkong,  Shanghai, 
New  York,  London  and  Philadelphia,  is  coming  to  be 
found  vastly  more  in  the  stylish  club  and  hotel  than  in 
the  old-time  groggery .?  This  was  most  manifest  to  us  in 
Manila.      Street  drunkenness  is  very  seldom  seen  there. 

The  social  vice,  while  not  under  that  control  which 
it  ought  to  be  and  will  be.  Is  reduced  almost  to  the  mini- 
mum.     No  immoral  street  characters  are  seen. 

On  the  afternoon  we  were  taken  about  to  see  the  city, 
we  witnessed  the  exhibition  by  about  the  most  perfect 
Fire  Department  system  which  I  have  seen  In  operation. 
All  unknown  to  the  firemen.  Assistant  Chief  Samuelson, 
who  was  with  us,  stopped  at  one  of  the  fire  boxes, 
turned  in  an  alarm  and  had  the  department  respond. 
They  ran  three  blocks  with  their  electric  engine,  at- 
tached the  hose,  and  had  two  streams  of  water  in  the  air 
In  less  than  a  minute  and  a  half.  We  visited  the  general 
hospital,  which  has  been  built  during  the  last  five  years. 
I  think  the  Trustees  of  Hahnemann  could  well  afford 
to  send  out  some  of  their  specialists  to  examine  that 
hospital,  for  I  do  not  believe  New  York  City  has  any- 
thing more  perfect.  It  Is  a  marvel  for  completeness. 
They  have  three  hundred  and  fifty  nurses  and  forty 
doctors.  When  our  representatives  went  into  the 
islands,  they  found  a  people  sick,  diseased  and  dying, 
and  but  little  being  done  In  a  scientific  way  to  remedy 
the  conditions.  The  annual  deaths  from  smallpox  were 
over  five  thousand  only  ten  years  ago.  To-day  they 
are  less  than  six  hundred.  Some  of  those  other  plagues 
and   epidemics   which  formerly   swept  the   Islands   and 

80 


carried  off  thousands  in  a  few  days,  are  absolutely  un- 
known now. 

We  visited  Bilibid  prison,  went  through  it,  and  had 
the  same  impression  concerning  its  modern  supervision. 
The  stories  of  the  old  prison  life  are  enough  to  chill 
your  blood,  and  to  make  you  feel  as  though  the  Spanish- 
American  war  did  not  last  long  enough. 

So  far  as  public  schools  were  concerned,  when  Dewey's 
fleet  went  into  Manila  Harbor,  there  was  practically 
no  such  a  thing  known  in  the  whole  realm  of  the  islands. 
To-day,  from  one  end  of  the  country  to  the  other,  there 
are  springing  up  public  schools,  under  the  remarkable 
leadership  of  Commissioner  White,  and  his  assistant. 
Professor  McGee,  which  will  rank  favorably  with  those 
of  any  land  under  the  sun. 

I  spoke  in  the  Normal  School  in  Manila  to  a  thousand 
young  Filipinos  who  are  being  trained  there,  and  who 
will  go  out  as  the  real  makers  of  the  new  civilization 
of  the  Philippine  Islands.  I  also  spoke  in  the  School 
of  Commerce,  where  five  hundred  young  men  are  being 
trained  in  the  modern  methods  of  commerce  and  busi- 
ness. They  also  have  in  Manila  a  Trades  School  with 
over  five  hundred  boys,  which  unfortunately  we  did  not 
have  time  to  visit.  There  are  a  thousand  American 
school  teachers  in  the  Islands,  and  they  are  the  leaders 
of  eight  thousand  native  instructors,  all  of  whom  have 
been  developed  during  the  past  fifteen  years. 

I  would  not  have  given  you  a  fair  statement  of  Ma- 
nila if  I  failed  to  mention  beautiful  Fort  McKinley.  I 
have  visited,  I  think,  most  of  our  largest  garrisons 
throughout  the  whole  republic,  but  certainly  there  is 
not  one  that  excels  in  beauty  and  order  Fort  McKinley. 
We  found  1,600  men  there  under  the  superb  leadership 
of  Col.  William  J.  Nicholson.  In  the  fort  is  a  Young 
Men's    Christian   Association    with   nearly    a   thousand 

81 


members,  and  a  building  which  looks  about  the  size 
of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  building  on 
Twenty-third  Street.  It  is  the  largest  Army  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association  in  the  world.  The  moral 
regulations  concerning  the  soldiers  stationed  there  are 
the  most  perfect  I  have  ever  known.  As  an  illustration, 
any  soldier  found  walking  the  streets  anywhere  with 
a  Filipino  woman  is  placed  in  the  guard-house  for  six 
days  and  fined  ten  dollars.  The  same  penalty  is  im- 
posed upon  any  soldier  found  in  a  dance  hall.  Other 
regulations  are  quite  as  binding,  with  the  result  that 
those  attendant  physical  results  which  follow  drunken- 
ness and  the  like,  are  reduced  to  the  minimum.  Out  of 
the  1,600  men  there,  only  forty-nine  were  on  the  hospital 
list.  I  have  been  told  many  times  that  soldiers  would 
rebel  against  regulations  of  this  kind.  Instead  of  that, 
they  would  cheer  to  the  echo  when  you  referred  to  the 
binding  moral  obligations  which  were  being  imposed 
upon  them. 

This  much  is  positively  sure.  The  American  Govern- 
ment has  proven  beyond  any  possible  doubt  its  capacity 
for  worthy  colonization.  I  wish  other  great  nations 
which  are  engaged  in  a  system  of  colonization  vastly 
greater  than  ours,  would  send  their  representatives  to 
Manila  and  see  what  is  being  done  there.  Observe 
the  spirit  that  characterizes  it,  and  the  type  of  men  in 
Government  service.  The  contrast  here  with  conditions 
in  some  other  cities  we  have  visited,  is  simply  enormous. 
I  do  not  mean  by  this  that  in  every  case  the  men  who 
have  held  public  office  under  our  Government  in  the 
Philippine  Islands  have  been  worthy  men.  There  are 
a  few  of  them  who  have  been  a  disgrace  to  themselves, 
to  the  people  and  the  flag  they  represent,  but  they 
are  in  the  minority.  It  is  not  my  purpose  to  attempt 
to  write  you  a  symposium  of  the  results  of  American 

82 


invasion  of  the  far  East.  Volumes  would  be  necessary 
to  do  that,  but  I  do  want  to  testify  that  they  have 
"  made  good,"  and  ought  to  be  honored  and  not  abused. 
I  only  wis?i  that  all  of  our  home  people  could  actually 
see  what  has  been  wrought  there  in  a  few  years. 

I  am  thoroughly  convinced,  however,  that  we  were 
led  of  God  to  go  there  just  at  this  time,  with  the 
Men  and  Religion  message,  because,  without  any  ques- 
tion, the  place  where  there,  is  greatest  tension,  the  most 
critical  need,  and  in  some  respects  the  greatest  unrest, 
is  in  the  realm  of  Christian  life.  Christian  work  and  the 
Church.  It  is  freely  commented  upon  every  hand,  both 
by  those  who  are  warm  advocates  of  the  Church  and 
the  Christian  organizations,  and  also  by  those  who  are 
not  only  indifferent,  but  antagonistic  to  the  Church  that 
religious  work  has  not  developed  in  anything  like  the 
degree  exemplified  in  other  enterprises. 

I  have  said  a  good  deal  about  the  developments  along 
physical,  educational  and  moral  lines.  If  you  can  go 
back  to  the  genesis  of  it  all,  you  will  find  the  influence 
of  Christianity,  but  the  sad  part  is  that  the  men  who 
are  promoting  these  elements  of  real  Christian  enter- 
prise do  not  admit  that  they  have  any  relation  to  the 
Church,  and  in  many  cases  seem  anxious  to  declare  an 
absolute  independence  from  all  such  connections.  We 
met  and  heard  one  man  who  takes  high  rank  among  the 
men  who  have  rendered  noble  service  in  behalf  of  the 
interior  peoples.  He  took  particular  pains  to  empha- 
size his  non-religious  attitude,  but  at  the  same  time 
gave  a  graphic  account  of  his  Christian  ancestry  in 
New  England.  His  motives,  his  ideals  and  his  moral 
energy  were  imparted  to  him  by  an  intense  church  life, 
but  he  seems  to  feel  it  entirely  foreign  to  what  he  is 
now  doing  in  public   service.     He  is   only  typical   of 


many  strong  men  we  met.  Therefore  the  Men  and  Re- 
ligion Movement  came  at  a  critical  and  needy  time. 

We  had  a  marvelous  ten  days'  work,  in  view  of  all 
the  conditions  surrounding  us.  We  held  meetings  of 
every  kind  and  description  that  we  ever  held  anywhere, 
plus  a  very  unique  opportunity  at  Fort  McKinley, 
where  I  had  the  privilege  of  speaking  three  nights  to 
about  six  hundred  soldiers  each  night. 

I  do  not  know  whether  you  will  be  interested  in  the 
complete  figures,  but  they  are  very  interesting  to  us. 
While  in  Manila,  we  held  forty  meetings  with  a  total 
attendance  of  13,772  people.  Mr.  Robins  and  I  each 
spoke  twenty-three  times. 

The  above,  added  to  what  I  gave  you  in  my  last  let- 
ter, makes  a  total  of  198  different  meetings  held,  with 
a  total  attendance  of  51,933  people.  The  quartet 
has  sung  413  times.  Robins  has  spoken  118  times  and 
I  have  spoken  119  times. 

I  must  tell  you  a  little  more  about  Baguio.  It  is 
situated  in  the  Benguet  mountains,  150  miles  to  the 
north  of  Manila,  in  a  place  of  unexcelled  beauty. 
To  this  place  the  Government  moves  its  operations  for 
about  three  or  four  months  of  the  most  heated  season 
of  the  year.  They  were  also  anxious  to  have  the  Govern- 
ment officials  come  into  contact  with  our  message  that, 
as  I  have  already  indicated,  they  arranged  for  a  special 
train  to  carry  us  up  by  night,  thus  economizing  the 
day  for  work,  and  a  half  holiday  for  all  employees. 
If  Tammany  Hall  had  been  in  the  saddle,  I  am  afraid 
it  would  have  been  different.  We  had  there  228  men 
at  luncheon,  and  in  the  afternoon,  in  the  open  amphi- 
theater, with  the  great  General  J.  Franklin  Bell  acting 
as  host,  we  had  494  people.  You  can  readily  see  that 
these  audiences  were  very  influential,  for  we  had  Govern- 

84 


ment  officials  and  men  of  the  very  highest  rank  in  mili- 
tary power. 

The  afternoon  meeting  was  held  in  what  I  am  sure  is 
the  most  beautiful  open  amphitheater  in  all  the  world, 
so  far  as  I  have  knowledge.  It  has  been  built  by  Gen- 
eral Bell,  not  for  his  own  pleasure,  but  for  the  people 
to  enjoy  for  all  the  years,  in  musical,  patriotic,  educa- 
tional and  religious  assemblages.  This  was  the  first 
public  gathering  in  it,  and  took  the  form  of  a  dedication. 
It  is  a  place  of  indescribable  beauty.  It  must  be  seen 
to  be  realized.  Robins  and  I  each  spoke,  and  in  that 
vast  place,  you  could  hear  literally  to  the  last  seat, 
so  perfect  are  the  acoustic  properties.  The  whole  meet- 
ing was  most  impressive,  but  reached  a  climax,  when  at 
the  close.  General  Bell  beckoned  to  the  officers  at  the 
rear  to  send  the  Igorots  down  to  him.  They  came  to 
the  front  and  stood  in  a  line  with  their  scant  dress, 
while  the  old  General  stood  by  their  side  and  addressed 
the  people,  telling  of  their  faithfulness  as  workmen, 
for  they  were  the  men  who  really  built  the  place.  There 
were  a  good  many  tear-dimmed  eyes  as  the  people  wit- 
nessed that  grand  man's  unwillingness  to  have  those 
poor  natives  who  had  worked  so  hard,  forgotten  in 
that  opening  meeting.  Every  man  in  our  party  left 
there  that  night,  feeling  that  since  leaving  New  York, 
no  one  single  day  had  reached  so  far  in  influence  as 
that  one. 

Had  there  been  no  meetings  to  be  held,  it  would  have 
been  a  wonderful  trip  just  for  the  ride.  The  railroad 
runs  a  line  within  seventeen  miles  of  the  mountain. 
From  there,  "  Camp  One,"  we  took  automobiles  up 
steep  roads  and  over  narrow  gorges.  Probably  the 
ride  from  Boulder  to  Estes  Park  in  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tains is  equal  to  it,  but  that  is  the  only  one  I  know 
which  is   to  be  compared  with  it.     We  climbed   5,000 

85 


feet,  and  passed  around  great  gorges  and  precipices 
where  it  would  almost  take  your  breath  away  to  think 
of  running  an  automobile.  You  can  get  a  little  im- 
pression of  the  condition  of  the  country  when  I  note 
that  in  returning,  the  railroad  would  not  pick  us  up 
at  "  Camp  One,"  where  they  left  us  in  the  morning, 
but  made  us  take  automobiles  fifty  miles  farther  down 
the  line.  We  made  this,  starting  from  Baguio  at 
8:40  in  the  evening.  You  have  done  some  mountain 
climbing  in  automobiles  during  your  day,  but  even  with 
your  generalship  and  Thomas'  sense,  I  do  not  believe 
you  would  tackle  that  ride. 

So  far  as  results  are  concerned,  I  do  not  care  to 
attempt  very  much  in  the  way  of  statistical  tabulation, 
but  there  are  some  things  that  are  worthy  of  peculiar 
comment.  In  evangelistic  results,  I  would  not  dare  tell 
you  the  number  of  young  men  who  professed  to  accept 
Christ  and  who  manifested  a  renewed  interest  in  the 
Christian  life.  The  definite  evangelistic  results  were 
tremendous  both  at  Fort  McKinley  and  in  the  city  of 
Manila.  The  churches  have  united  in  a  larger  federated 
effort.  Without  any  doubt  the  strongest  Christian 
business  man  in  the  city,  and  one  who  had  not  interested 
himself  very  much  in  this  kind  of  work,  has  given 
pledge  to  leadership  in  the  conservation  work.  Perhaps 
in  the  follow-up  work,  the  two  places  where  there  will 
be  the  largest  permanent  results,  will  be  in  a  better 
campaign  for  boys,  for  not  much  has  been  done  in 
this  line,  and  in  an  intensified  definite  Christian  Social 
Service  propaganda. 

There  are  a  thousand  things  I  would  like  to  say  to 
you  about  the  Philippine  Islands — their  future  and 
our  relation  to  them,  but  time,  space  and  your  patience 
will  not  permit  of  too  much.     But  there  are  a  few  im- 

86 


Ill 

org       JL 

3  rr  CD 


O    CO 

o  w 


fi^ 


§3 


pressions  that  I  would  not  feel  I  had  been  just  to  my- 
self, to  the  party  nor  to  you  if  I  did  not  express. 

First. — The  Philippine  Islands  are  to  have  a  great 
future.  They  have  resources  that  are  simply  unlimited. 
No  man  can  estimate  them.  We  know  now  something 
of  the  commercial  value  in  hemp,  rice,  cocoa  fibre,  to- 
bacco, sugar  cane  and  minerals,  but  not  one  of  them 
has  as  yet  been  touched  in  its  possibilities.  Take  just 
one  illustration.  By  most  accurate  surveys,  there  are 
68,000,000  acres  of  immediately  tillable  land — 68,- 
000,000  acres  that  could  be  put  under  cultivation  to- 
morrow if  there  were  workmen  ready  for  the  task.  Of 
the  68,000,000,  less  than  8,000,000  acres  are  now  under 
cultivation.  In  acreage,  the  Philippine  Islands  will  far 
exceed  the  Hawaiian  Islands.  I  do  not  know  in  what 
proportion,  but  it  is  very  great.  In  fertility  and  favor- 
able climate,  they  are  fully  equal  to  the  Hawaiian  group. 
It  has  not  as  yet  entered  into  the  mind  of  man  what 
the  rice,  sugar,  corn,  cocoa  fibre  and  mineral  resources 
may  some  day  become.  Three  days'  sail  to  the  west, 
three  days'  to  the  northwest  and  seven  days  to  the 
north,  places  the  Philippine  Islands  within  the  reach 
of  nearly  800,000,000  people,  one-half  of  whom  are 
poorly  fed.  And  here,  60,000,000  acres  of  rich  ground 
are  lying  waste. 

Does  it  not  appeal  to  you  as  a  great  piece  of  work 
in  the  name  of  God  and  for  humanity,  to  have  these 
resources  released  that  the  hungry  may  be  fed  and 
the  naked  clothed? 

Second. — The  American  Government  is  essential  to 
this  development.  I  am  not  a  politician,  as  you  know, 
but  I  am  at  such  a  point  of  intensity  upon  this  question 
that  if  I  thought  our  Government  was  going  to  be  so 
positively  absurd  as  to  stop  now  its  beneficent  work  in 
the  Philippine  Islands,  I  would  start  home  to-day  and 

87 


campaign  the  country  to  create  a  sentiment  against 
that  idea.  You  can  go  into  Manila  and  meet  a  few 
of  those  very  choice  cultured  Filipinos,  spend  a  day  or 
two  at  banquets  and  functions  and  possibly  go  out 
with  the  idea  that  they  are  ready  for  complete  inde- 
pendent self-government.  But  we  had  a  pretty  good 
opportunity  to  get  a  fair  estimate  of  the  whole  situation. 
I  went  on  a  ride  of  a  hundred  and  twenty  miles  into 
the  country  in  an  automobile  and  passed  through  small 
villages  all  along  the  way  from  Manila  to  San  Pablo. 
About  twenty  of  them.  No  man  could  dream  of  any- 
thing more  foolish  than  to  think  of  turning  over  to 
complete  self-government  that  district,  which  is  one  of 
the  best  in  the  whole  Islands.  Add  to  that  the  fact 
that  they  have  400,000  wild  men  in  the  north,  and  about 
e500,000  more  in  the  south,  absolutely  wild,  "  head 
hunters,"  who  would  be  moving  on  Manila  inside  of 
thirty  days  if  they  heard  that  the  American  soldiers 
had  withdrawn,  and  it  makes  your  blood  tingle  to  think 
that  anybody  would  propose  to  leave  that  situation  now. 
I  am  persuaded  that  not  only  would  the  great  work 
of  education  and  uplift  stop  if  our  influence  were  re- 
moved, but  I  am. also  persuaded  that  it  would  go  back 
to  a  state  worse  than  it  was  before  the  Spanish-Ameri- 
can war.  God  knows  the  Spanish  administration  was 
bad  enough,  but  that  would  not  compare  with  the  hor- 
rors of  that  people  if  left  entirely  to  themselves  at  this 
period.  And  the  saddest  part  of  it  all  is  that  without 
any  doubt,  those  who  are  most  deserving  would  be 
those  to  suffer  most.  I  can  assure  you,  my  dear  friend, 
that  this  is  not  simply  the  echo  of  the  views  expressed 
by  the  Americans  resident  there,  nor  of  a  few  office 
holders  who  might  be  suspected  of  an  ulterior  motive, 
but  it  is  the  pronounced  view  of  some  of  the  finest  type 
of  Filipinos  whom  we  met.      I  talked  with  one  native  who 

88 


is  a  man  of  fine  training,  splendid  business  ability  and 
a  thorough  Filipino  patriot.  He  gave  it  as  his  un- 
qualified judgment  that  such  an  action  on  the  part  of 
the  American  government  would  be  disastrous  to  the 
whole  future  of  his  country.  We  have  as  a  fellow 
passenger  on  the  ship  en  route  to  Australia,  Rt.  Rev. 
Gilbert  White,  one  of  the  Australian  bishops  of  the 
Church  of  England,  who  has  been  in  the  Philippine 
Islands  for  a  month  on  a  tour  with  Bishop  Brent,  visit- 
ing the  interior  places.  He,  of  course,  is  an  entirely 
disinterested  man,  but  he  is  just  as  strong  in  his  state- 
ment of  the  necessity  for  the  American  administration 
remaining  in  the  Philippine  Islands  as  am  I.  I  cannot 
quite  express  to  you  how  deeply  we  all  feel  upon  this 
question,  for  after  our  contact  with  that  people,  and 
with  the  issues  involved,  we  feel  that  for  our  Govern- 
ment to  withdraw  would  be  one  of  the  saddest  pages  in 
American  history,  and  that  inside  of  ten  years,  when 
some  power  would  certainly  have  to  go  back  there  to 
carry  out  what  has  so  well  begun,  we  would  be  the 
laughing  stock  of  the  powers  of  the  world  for  our  folly 
and  neglect. 

I  do  not  pretend  to  be  a  scientific  man  in  matters  of 
government,  but  I  think  I  know  a  little  of  what  is  in- 
volved, and  I  have  been  trying,  while  writing  you,  to 
think  of  some  plausible  reason  for  such  an  action.  Of 
course,  it  would  sound  very  beautiful  to  say  that  after 
these  years,  we  had  withdrawn  and  given  that  people 
their  liberty,  but  instead  of  liberty,  just  as  sure  as 
God  lives,  it  would  mean  slavery,  servitude  and  defeat 
for  tens  of  thousands  of  people  who  are  now  on  their 
way  to  a  better  life. 

I  am  fully  aware  of  the  fact  that  there  are  some 
grave  dangers  to  be  avoided.  When  the  clever  com- 
mercial American  gets  a  full  realization  of  the  many 

89 


possibilities  in  the  Philippine  Islands,  his  greed  for 
gain  will  have  to  be  restrained  or  he  will  go  over  there 
with  commercial  trickery  and  combinations  which  will 
wring  the  very  juice  out  of  the  country  at  the  cost  of 
its  people.  This  peril  must  be  guarded  against,  and 
it  will  take  a  strong  hand.  There  is  also  the  hungry, 
unscrupulous  politician  to  be  reckoned  with.  He  will 
have  to  be  watched,  lest  public  office  degenerate  into 
a  bargain  counter  for  paying  off  political  debts.  It 
is  to  be  a  country  of  such  marvelous  beauty  in  scenery 
that  the  adventurer  and  the  man  of  low  morals  will 
have  to  be  guarded  against,  and  ought  to  be  notified 
that  he  is  not  wanted  there.  Already  our  representa- 
tives are  serving  that  notice  in  no  unmistakable  manner. 
But  our  nation  is  big  enough  to  render  an  unselfish 
service  there,  and  to  give  the  whole  world  an  illustration 
of  what  can  be  accomplished  by  the  best  blood  of 
our  best  people.  China,  with  400,000,000  people,  is 
just  across  the  little  narrow  stream  of  water,  asking 
for  a  guide  to  better  days.  Japan  is  unfolding,  but 
is  poorly  prepared  for  all  that  is  ahead  of  her.  It 
seems  to  me  that  the  stars  and  stripes  ought  to  remain 
at  this  place  which  seems  to  have  been  given  to  us  so 
providentially,  and  at  the  doorway  of  these  other  na- 
tions, to  render  a  hitherto  unknown,  unselfish  service. 
I  could  plead  for  a  continuance  of  the  American  ad- 
ministration, not  for  gain  in  commerce,  not  for  a  mili- 
tary base  from  which  to  whip  the  world  sometime,  not 
to  boast  of  more  acres  and  dominion,  but  in  the  name 
of  God  and  humanity,  to  give  a  clearer  illustration  than 
history  has  yet  recorded  of  a  strong  power  giving  its 
life  to  redeem  a  weaker  people,  and  to  lift  them  up. 
I  cannot  conceive  of  any  reason  why  fullest  autonomy 
cannot  be  granted  to  the  Filipino  people,  and  yet  have 
it  done  under  the  protection  of  our  own  country.      The 

90 


Filipino  people  need  us.  Their  best  blood  responds  to 
that  fact,  and  I  wonder  if  it  may  not  be  that  we,  as  a 
nation,  need  the  Filipinos.  As  certainly  as  I  believe 
God  was  guiding  in  that  hour  when  Dewey  sailed  into 
Manila  Harbor  with  his  fleet,  just  so  surely  do  I  believe 
that  there  is  yet  a  duty  to  be  performed  in  His  name, 
and  to  withdraw  would,  in  my  judgment,  mean  the 
setting  of  the  clock  back  upon  the  whole  Orient  by 
scores  of  years. 

Third. — The  supreme  need  of  the  Philippine  Islands 
is  for  a  stronger  demonstration  of  a  pure  Christianity. 
In  what  I  am  about  to  say,  I  would  not  want  you  to 
get  the  impression  that  the  forces  of  Christianity  are 
not  strong  in  many  respects,  for  they  are.  Bishop 
Brent,  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  is  there,  and 
he  alone  is  a  tower  of  strength.  The  various  mission- 
ary boards  which  are  represented  have  some  able  men. 
Bible  societies  have  done  a  wonderful  work  in  disseminat- 
ing the  scriptures  in  the  various  native  languages.  The 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association  in  the  city  of  Manila 
is  a  tremendous  power  in  the  community.  I  would  not 
seem  to  be  unmindful  of  the  faithful,  self-sacrificing 
service  rendered  by  these  Christian  workers,  but  as 
compared  with  the  population,  and  as  compared  with 
the  issues,  the  whole  force  combined  is  inadequate  to  the 
situation.  They  would  say  this  even  more  freely  than 
would  I.  I  have  no  fear  whatever  in  saying  that,  with- 
out any  exception,  I  believe  this  presents  the  most  criti- 
cal situation  we  have  faced,  so  far  as  definite  spiritual 
Christian  work  is  concerned. 

In  the  first  place,  here  is  the  terrible  task  of  present- 
ing Christianity  in  a  country,  which  on  the  map  is 
already  marked  as  "  Christian."  When  we  were  in 
Japan  and  China,  the  issue  was  well  defined.  We  had 
there  to  make  a  presentation  which  would  convince  men 

91 


that  Christianity  was  better  than  Buddhism,  Moham- 
medanism or  Shintoism,  and  while  we  always  faced  a 
stubborn  resistance,  there  was  never  any  doubt  about 
the  result.  And  there  was  no  embarrassment  in  press- 
ing the  claim.  But  when  you  get  to  Manila,  it  is  a 
new  situation  entirely.  Here  it  is  a  question  of  proving 
that  one  type  of  Christianity  is  better  than  another, 
and  also  the  embarrassment  of  making  use  of  any  illus- 
tration or  arguments  which  would  seem  to  be  "  omnibus  " 
in  their  character  as  applied  to  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church,  for  we  are  all  the  time  reminded  of  those  great, 
noble  souls  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  with  whom 
we  are  so  well  acquainted  in  the  home  country.  But 
the  degenerate  form  of  Roman  Catholicism  which  was 
developed  in  the  Philippine  Islands  is  in  many  ways 
worse  to  deal  with  than  Buddhism  or  Shintoism.  I  do 
not  mean  that  they  did  not  do  anything.  They  did  some 
things,  but  the  record  of  Friar  domination  will  stand 
as  one  of  the  blackest  pages  in  human  history.  If  you 
want  to  stir  up  a  riot,  all  you  have  to  do,  almost  any- 
where in  the  Philippine  Islands,  is  to  mention  the  Friars. 
Of  course  we  know  that  they  were  not  Christians  in  the 
true  sense  of  the  word.  They  took  the  Divinest  thing 
on  earth  and  made  havoc  for  their  own  sensual  desires. 
But  in  the  face  of  this  terrible  history,  Protestant  Chris- 
tianity has  now  to  make  its  way. 

In  the  second  place,  of  all  the  cities  I  have  ever  visited, 
I  think  I  have  never  come  into  contact  with  such  cpn- 
fusing  ideas  as  to  what  it  means  to  be  a  Christian. 
Some  Americans  have  gone  out  there  who  professed 
to  be  church  men  at  home,  and  have  so  compromised 
themselves  that  it  is  very  difficult  to  discover  any  differ- 
ence between  them  and  men  of  no  religious  profession. 
Some  of  these  nearly  had  a  fit  because  I  dared  to  refer 
to  whiskey,  and  even  feigned  to  look  with  great  sur- 

92 


prise  that  whiskej  drinking  should  be  listed  as  one  of 
the  things  not  to  be  tolerated  by  professing  Chris- 
tians. I  cannot  tell  how  many  times  I  was  taken  out 
in  a  comer  by  confidential  advisers  who  wanted  to  per- 
suade me  that  Manila  was  "  peculiar,"  and  that  a 
Christian  man  could  do  things  there  that  he  would  not 
think  of  doing  in  New  York  City,  Washington,  Phila- 
delphia, Boston  or  Chicago.  Not  all  of  the  professing 
Christian  men,  by  any  means,  have  surrendered  to  this 
view.  There  are  men  who  hold  the  standards  just  as 
high  and  pure  and  good  and  true  as  the  day  they  left 
San  Francisco.  But  there  are  enough  of  the  other  type 
to  have  complicated  the  whole  church  question,  and  to 
make  it  exceedingly  difficult  to  persuade  non-Christian 
men  that  there  is  any  power  or  necessity  in  the  Chris- 
tian life  for  them. 

In  the  third  place,  Protestant  Christianity  is  very 
much  weakened  by  unnecessary  divisions.  I  do  not  find 
it  easy  to  deal  calmly  with  this  element  of  the  situation. 
Instead  of  one,  or  at  most  two  strong  churches  in  the 
city  of  Manila,  we  found  four,  every  one  of  them  strug- 
gling for  life,  poorly  supported  and  not  able  to  make  a 
real  impression  upon  the  entire  community.  I  would 
not  censure  those  earnest  men  who  have  been  sent  out 
there,  and  I  would  not  censure  overmuch  the  men  at  home 
whom  they  represent,  for  all  of  it  is  the  expression  of 
a  very  noble  and  worthy  desire.  But  the  result  is  de- 
plorable. Now  they  are  trying  to  consolidate,  but  the 
problem  is  very  difficult,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  all 
of  the  machinery  of  the  four  different  denominations  is 
now  in  operation.  Notwithstanding  the  noble  sentiment 
which  prompted  the  various  Missionary  Societies  in  1898 
to  send  their  representatives  thither,  I  refuse  to  believe 
that  a  God  of  wisdom,  by  His  spirit,  prompted  that 
method  of  procedure.      Had  the   forces    at  home  been 

93 


sufficiently  united,  there  could  have  been  one  demon- 
stration of  real  spiritual  power.  Let  the  past,  how- 
ever, be  what  it  is ;  it  does  seem  to  me  that  such  a  blun- 
der ought  to  be  averted  in  the  future.  Not  only  in 
Manila,  but  all  along  the  way,  I  have  been  thinking  of 
what  a  wonderful  service  ought  to  be  rendered  to  the 
cause  of  the  Kingdom  of  Jesus  Christ  throughout  the 
whole  earth  if  the  Federal  Council  of  Churches  in 
America  can  be  brought  to  its  full  place  of  power.  Had 
it  been  sufficiently  active  in  1898,  it  might  have  been 
the  agency  to  have  led  in  a  wiser  propaganda  through- 
out the  Philippine  Islands. 

In  the  fourth  place,  the  country  is  filled  with  that 
type  of  men  of  whom  I  have  already  written,  who  back 
in  the  States,  got  their  vision  of  life,  service  and  good 
morals  from  their  vital  church  contact,  and  who  are 
now  in  the  Philippine  Islands  rendering  most  splendid 
humanitarian  service,  and  yet,  who  are  not  only  indif- 
ferent to  but  decry  the  Church.  Some  of  them,  of 
course,  are  embarrassed  by  the  complicated  situations 
which  obtain  with  reference  to  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church.  Some  of  them,  perhaps,  have  become  discour- 
aged with  the  inadequate  efforts  being  made  by  the  pres- 
ent church  forces,  but  whatever  the  cause,  they  stand 
as  a  very  serious  handicap  to  definite  Christian  work. 
Very  naturally  men  point  to  them  and  to  their  noble 
service  and  say  that  if  men  live  such  lives  and  render 
such  service  without  relation  to  the  Church,  why  should 
we  younger  men  think  seriously  of  this  question  .^^  In 
view  of  the  fact  that  you  and  I  know  that  this  kind  of 
service  will  not  be  abiding,  and  also  that  the  sons  and 
grandsons  of  these  very  men  will  not  render  that  kind 
of  service  if  the  definite  Christian  motive  is  eliminated, 
I  believe  that  there  is  no  spot  in  the  world  which  pre- 

94 


sents  a  greater  opportunity  for  vital  Christian  effort 
than  in  our  own  Philippine  Islands. 

I  do  not  feel  discouraged  about  it  for  I  am  sure  the 
program  of  the  pure  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  and  the 
open  Bible  is  going  to  win,  but  it  is  a  big  job.  It  is 
worthy  of  big  men  and  of  loyal,  generous  support  on 
the  part  of  the  home  people. 

I  feel  as  though  I  would  not  be  fair  to  all  the  incidents 
of  our  visit  and  work  in  the  Philippine  Islands  if  I  failed 
to  speak  once  more  of  the  splendid  influence  and  co-oper- 
ation of  the  E.  H.  Fallows  party.  They  preceded  us 
by  nearly  a  month.  Bishop  Fallows,  in  an  interview, 
had  commended  our  work  most  heartily,  and  Mr.  E.  H. 
Fallows  had  said  such  kind  things  to  the  business  men 
whom  he  met  that  they  were  ready  to  welcome  us.  Dur- 
ing the  campaign  in  Manila,  I  think  there  were  a  good 
many  men  who  felt  that  we  were  putting  the  pressure 
on  rather  vigorously,  but  the  earnest  approval  of  the 
Fallows  party  helped  us  to  hold  our  position  securely. 
Mr.  Fallows'  conduct  and  business  methods  were  those 
of  so  splendid  a  Christian  type  that  I  am  a  little  in 
doubt  as  to  who  preached  the  biggest  sermon — the 
"  Men  and  Religion  team,"  or  the  "  Fallows  party." 
One  thing  is  sure,  the  two  worked  together  admirably. 

As  I  close  this  letter,  and  we  begin  to  get  our  minds 
fixed  upon  our  work  in  Australia,  I  want  to  tell  you 
how  deeply  every  man  in  the  party  is  feeling  the  sense 
of  gratitude  to  God.  We  have  traveled  nearly  18,000 
miles.  We  have  been  in  every  type  of  climate,  on  every 
kind  of  a  ship,  on  every  kind  of  a  sea,  in  every  kind  of 
a  hotel,  which,  it  seems  to  me,  anybody  could  find,  and 
we  have  all  been  in  perfect  health.  As  I  have  already 
said,  we  have  held  one  hundred  and  ninety-eight  meet- 
ings, and  during  all  the  time  not  one  man  of  the  whole 
group  has  been  incapacitated  for  service.     Vaccination 

95 


made  us  a  little  weary  and  languid  for  a  few  days,  but 
no  serious  thing  has  befallen  any  one  of  us.  Therefore 
we  are  moving  steadily  forward  and  praying  for  yet  a 
greater  measure  of  grace. 

As  you  have  opportunity,  say  a  word  of  greeting 
to  every  one  of  the  dear  friends  at  home.  I  go  over 
them  in  my  mind  many  times,  and  there  is  not  a  day 
passes  but  that,  as  we  meet  in  our  little  daily  Bible 
study  together,  we  offer  prayer  that  those  behind  us 
may  be  kept  constantly  in  the  love  and  power  of  God. 
Yours  very  sincerely, 

Fred.  B.  Smith. 


96 


VIII 

On  White  Star  Liner  Persic,  Australia  to  South  Africa, 
May  1,  1913. 

My  dear  Mr.  Cannon:  Once  more  we  have  closed 
our  charts,  diagrams,  discussions,  books  and  mouths, 
for  a  few  days,  and  are  at  sea,  resting  and  thinking  it 
all  over.  The  rapid  cannonading  of  the  great  cities  of 
Australia  is  over,  at  least  for  the  present,  and  now  we 
are  actually  out  upon  the  Indian  Ocean,  plowing  our 
way  toward  South  Africa. 

According  to  all  the  signs,  we  are  booked  for  some 
new  experiences  too.  We  are  "  at  sea  "  in  more  ways 
than  ever  before. 

First  of  all,  the  waters  over  which  we  are  traveling 
are  entirely  new  to  us.  Out  of  all  my  wanderings,  I 
have  not  hitherto  taken  this  course  from  Australia  to 
South  Africa,  and  while  the  ocean  is  the  ocean,  yet 
there  does  seem  a  little  new  interest  in  the  thought  of 
crossing  this  unknown  part  of  the  great  deep.  It  is 
about  5,000  miles  from  Albany,  West  Australia,  to 
Durban  in  Natal,  and  this  will  take  me  farther  from 
land  than  I  have  ever  been  before. 

Then  we  are  a  little  bit  "  at  sea,"  because  we  are 
on  a  new  type  of  ship.  Thus  far  we  have  traveled  upon 
ocean  palaces,  particularly  the  great  Manchuria,  the 
ship  upon  which  we  sailed  from  the  Hawaiian  Islands 
to  Japan,  and  the  Nippon  Yusen  Kaisha  steamer,  Ku- 
nnano  Maru,  upon  which  we  spent  two  weeks  in  getting 
to  Australia.  Both  of  them  were  about  perfect  for 
comfort.  But  now  we  are  on  the  White  Star  Line 
steamer  Persic,  a  one-class  boat  carrying  three  hundred 

97 


and  ninety  passengers,  packed  almost  to  suffocation, 
and  we  are  having  a  touch  of  the  real  "  simple  life." 
I  think  you  would  smile  to  see  some  of  our  conveniences. 
Our  party  has  a  table  on  top  of  a  hatchway  down  in 
the  main  dining  saloon.  The  place  is  so  crowded  that 
they  have  had  to  put  a  special  table  there  for  us.  We 
will  not  see  a  napkin  for  sixteen  days,  not  even  a  paper 
one.  No  hors  d'oewvre,  caviar,  French  dressings,  or 
other  dainties  which  are  usually  concocted  to  stimulate 
the  appetite.  But  we  are  getting  plenty  of  corned 
beef,  cabbage  and  potatoes.  And  better  than  all  else, 
we  are  getting  plenty  of  fellowship  with  real  folks. 
The  people  are  sturdy,  genuine,  common  people,  and 
we  are  enjoying  them. 

We  are  also  "  at  sea  "  somewhat  concerning  just  the 
real,  permanent  net  results  of  our  Australian  cam- 
paign. There  we  really  came  into  contact  with  some 
new  conditions,  and  about  everything  in  our  program 
had  to  be  revamped  to  fit  the  unique  elements  of  their 
church  life.  We  have  been  holding  some  conferences 
on  the  ship  to  try  to  find  out  "  where  we  are  at."  Aus- 
tralia presents  some  elements  which  are  absolutely  pe- 
culiar to  its  own  life,  and  we  were  not  there  very  long 
before  we  discovered  that  fact. 

However,  before  I  get  too  deeply  into  these  ques- 
tions, I  must  first  say  that  there  is  no  place  on  earth 
where  a  Christian  worker  from  North  America  will  re- 
ceive such  a  cordial  welcome  and  hearing  as  in  Aus- 
tralia. It  is  a  joy  to  work  with  those  earnest  men, 
for  I  find  they  have  more  in  common  with  us  than  any 
other  living  people.  This  is  a  new  nation  and  is  not 
rigidly  set  in  its  ways.  It  is  open-minded  and  ready  to 
revise  where  revision  promises  better  returns.  Its  peo- 
ple are  not  everlastingly  bound  to  traditions  of  a  thou- 
sand years  which  they  feel  must  not  be  altered,  as  is  so 

98 


much  the  case  in  the  older  parts  of  the  world.  Then 
they  have  an  unbounded  enthusiasm  which  becomes  con- 
tagious when  you  have  been  there  a  few  days.  And 
grander  than  all  else,  they  have  not  reached  the  place 
where  they  are  too  proud  to  manifest  their  enthusiasm. 
Sometimes  we  thought  it  would  run  away  with  us,  but 
it  was  so  genuine  and  hearty  that  it  was  a  constant 
inspiration.  Then,  too,  they  are  the  sons  of  a  big  vast 
territory.  Australia  has  2,974,581  square  miles  of 
area.  They  are  compelled  to  think  and  travel  in  great 
distances.  This  gives  them  mental  discipline  in  big 
thinking,  and  it  results  in  big  men  every  way. 

I  wish  you  could  have  been  with  us  in  some  of  our 
"  welcome  "  receptions.  Governors,  Prime  Ministers, 
Lord  Mayors  and  big  politicians  w^ere  in  most  cases 
the  hosts.  In  the  two  greatest  cities — Sydney  and  Mel- 
bourne— the  Lord  Mayor  gave  the  opening  reception 
and  properly  greeted  us  and  commended  our  work.  In 
Sydney,  the  Lord  Mayor,  Rt.  Hon.  A.  A.  C.  Cocks, 
M.L.A.,  was  the  chairman  of  the  whole  Men  and  Re- 
ligion Forward  Movement  committee,  and  upon  sev- 
eral occasions,  before  the  largest  audiences,  put  the 
Christian  life  as  the  supreme  issue  of  every  man's  char- 
acter as  strongly  as  any  of  us  could  do.  It  was  a  moral 
tonic  to  hear  the  great  big  powerful  men  entreat  the 
young  men  in  a  vast  audience  in  the  town  hall  to  stand 
loyally  by  the  Christian  life.  Christian  work,  the  Church 
and  religion.  Then  in  Collingwood,  one  of  the  suburbs 
of  Melbourne,  at  the  close  of  a  public  meeting  which  I 
held  in  the  town  hall,  the  Mayor  sent  for  me  to  come  to 
the  Council  Chamber,  where  they  were  giving  a  ban- 
quet to  the  incoming  Superintendent  of  Police.  He 
said  they  had  the  banquet  arranged  before  they  knew 
of  our  meeting,  and  therefore  could  not  attend,  but 
he  was  very  anxious  that  the  members  of  the  Council 

99 


should  hear  me  explain  something  of  the  Men  and 
Religion  Forward  Movement,  and  had  for  that  pur- 
pose invited  me  to  their  meeting.  In  his  remarks,  he 
called  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  strongest  drink 
in  sight  was  ginger  ale,  and  said  they  had  not  had 
anything  stronger  at  any  of  their  public  functions  for 
five  years.  This  must  not  be  taken  as  typical  of  all 
the  public  life,  nor  of  the  Australian  life  in  general, 
for  they  are  fearfully  in  the  grip  of  "  whiskey  and 
soda,"  but  it  does  show  the  trend  of  thought  among 
many  of  their  most  prominent  men.  Of  this  I  am  cer- 
tain— the  Australians  can  beat  the  world  in  cordial- 
ity of  welcome.  It  helps  tremendously  those  who  are 
doing  the  kind  of  work  we  are,  at  a  time  when  we  were 
so  far  away  from  home,  and  in  a  sense  felt  the  limi- 
tations of  being  strangers  in  a  strange  land. 

I  believe  every  man  in  our  entire  party  was  at  high 
tension  all  the  time  in  Australia,  undertaking  to  com- 
prehend the  many  angles  of  life  which  were  so  intensely 
interesting  and  yet  so  perplexing.  Remembering  that 
the  territory  is  almost  as  large  as  that  of  the  United 
States,  we  were,  of  course,  first  attracted  to  the  prob- 
lem of  their  material  resources.  Notwithstanding  their 
vast  acreage,  they  have  a  little  less  than  5,000,000 
population,  of  which  over  1,000,000  are  resident  in 
Melbourne  and  Sydney,  about  equally  divided  between 
the  two  cities.  Yet,  with  this  limited  population, 
their  1911  output  of  cattle  and  sheep  amounted  to 
$286,000,000.  Of  agricultural  products,  such  as 
wheat,  barley,  corn  and  rice,  $236,000,000.  Of  min- 
erals, $122,500,000.  This  last,  of  course,  is  pretty 
largely  in  the  gold  regions  of  the  great  west.  Manu- 
facturing is  only  in  its  infancy  and  yet,  during  that 
year,  they  turned  out  $483,000,000  worth  of  manu- 
factured articles.     This  you  will  at  once  see  is  a  tre- 

100 


mendous  volume,  and  I  have  not  been  able  to  mention 
the  long  list  of  smaller  industries  which  were  frequently 
quoted.  As  illustration,  we  made  a  stop  at  Thursday 
Island,  at  the  extreme  north,  where  they  take  out 
$10,000,000  worth  of  pearls  annually.  Fruit  is  not 
listed.  No  one  seems  to  have  data  upon  that  ques- 
tion alone,  although  there  are  no  finer  grapes,  pears, 
peaches,  apricots  or  apples  in  existence  than  those 
grown  in  Australia.  Summing  it  all  up,  I  doubt  if 
there  is  another  country  in  the  world  where  there  is 
so  much  produced  by  such  a  small  number  of  people. 
Everything  that  can  be  grown  anywhere  in  the  earth 
can  be  grown  in  Australia. 

When  the  doors  are  opened  a  little  and  the  popu- 
lation increases  in  some  relative  proportion  to  the  ex- 
tent of  the  country,  a  new  standard  of  world  prices 
may  be  necessary  to  take  care  of  the  output  of  this 
Anglo-Saxon  nation  under  the  Southern  Cross. 

In  all  of  these  figures  and  future  possibilities,  we 
have  practically  to  reckon  with  New  Zealand  and  Tas- 
mania as  a  part,  although  our  travel  did  not  take  us 
to  either,  and  their  products  are  not  included  in  this 
statement. 

Added  to  all  of  these  natural  resources  of  the  soil, 
there  is  a  climate  which  is  wellnigh  perfect.  The 
north  is  tropical,  and,  of  course,  hot,  but,  swept  by 
the  sea  breezes  of  an  immense  water  front,  it  is  not 
excessively  so.  The  entire  southern  coast  is  a  garden 
of  beauty  with  ideal  living  conditions.  From  Sydney, 
straight  around  to  Perth,  a  distance  of  over  four  thou- 
sand miles,  it  is  diflicult  to  think  of  a  climate  more 
delightful. 

From  the  standpoint  of  our  Men  and  Religion  tour, 
we  were  most  interested  in  the  legislation  upon  welfare 
topics.     Here  we  found  that  from  the  law-making  end 

101 


about  everything  that  could  be  dreamed  of  for  the  good 
of  the  people  had  been  done.  Robins  was  simply  over- 
whelmed with  the  magnitude  of  their  legislation  upon 
these  questions.  They  have  an  eight-hour  day  uni- 
versal labor  law.  It  applies  to  everybody  from  the 
cashier  of  a  bank  to  the  domestic  servant.  At  Mel- 
bourne, in  the  Parliament  Gardens,  there  is  a  beauti- 
ful shaft  with  "  8 — 8 — 8  "  on  the  top,  typifying  eight 
hours  labor,  eight  hours  sleep  and  eight  hours  recrea- 
tion. It  is  the  first  and  only  one  of  its  kind  in  the 
world.  Here  they  have  a  great  annual  festival  and 
parade  when  they  march  around  this  monument  in 
honor  of  Australian  labor  laws.  They  have  a  minimum 
wage  law  with  permanent  boards  to  determine  what  a 
living  wage  is  in  every  vocation  in  the  nation.  It  is 
against  the  law  to  work  for  less  than  a  living  compen- 
sation, as  well  as  for  the  employer  to  pay  less.  They 
have  an  old-age  pension  act,  providing  for  the  care  in 
old  age  of  all  who  have  served  faithfully  in  any  ca- 
pacity. They  have  stringent  laws  concerning  the  op- 
eration of  dangerous  machinery  without  adequate  pro- 
tection for  the  workmen.  They  have  elaborate  laws 
for  the  protection  of  health  in  all  shops,  mills,  stores 
and  mines.  As  illustration,  every  mine,  mill  and  shop 
must  be  well  lighted,  sprinkled  and  kept  free  from  dust 
and  infection.  They  have  laws  making  Wednesday  and 
Saturday  afternoon  half-holidays,  when  all  stores  close 
at  one  o'clock,  and  at  six  o'clock  on  all  other  days, 
with  one  exception,  when  they  may  keep  open  until  ten 
o'clock.  This  exception  is  usually  Saturday  night. 
They  have  the  strongest  compulsory  educational  laws 
ever  passed  anywhere.  No  boy  nor  girl  can  be  excused 
from  school  before  fourteen  years  of  age,  except  for 
pronounced  illness.  Of  course,  this  carries  the  no-child 
labor  law  with  it.      Their  statutes  covering  sanitation 

102 


and  housing  are  such  that  there  is  not  what  we  would 
call  a  tenement  in  the  whole  commonwealth.  Then  they 
have  reached  the  climax  in  an  immigration  act,  which 
practically  excludes  immigrants.  No  yellow,  brown, 
or  black  man  can  get  in  at  all,  and  white  men  must  not 
come  in  without  a  good  supply  of  money  and  must 
also  be  able  to  write  forty  words  in  any  European 
language  the  Immigration  officer  chooses  to  name. 
This  means  that  the  officer  can  look  the  applicant  over, 
and  if  he  does  not  appear  to  be  up  to  the  standard,  he 
will  name  a  language  he  cannot  write,  and  the  appli- 
cant is  thus  excluded  and  deported  back  to  his  start- 
ing place.  It  is  a  prohibitory  law  by  another  name. 
The  slogan,  "  A  white  Australia,"  might  also  be  made 
"  Australia  for  the  Australians."  It  is  wonderful  to 
go  through  these  cities  day  after  day,  crowded  as  they 
are,  and  not  see  a  black-skinned  man  anywhere,  and 
hear  but  one  language  spoken — English. 

Of  course,  there  is  a  strong  feeling  against  this  rigid 
legislation  restricting  immigration,  and  now  the  coun- 
try is  torn  from  one  end  to  the  other  over  an  agitation 
to  modify  it,  for  they  are  in  great  need  of  more  people. 
It  is  also  true  that  there  are  many  who  feel  the  whole 
question  of  laws  has  been  carried  to  the  extreme.  Per- 
haps that  is  true  in  some  cases.  It  is  very  amusing 
to  follow  some  of  the  ramifications  of  these  laws.  For 
instance  if  a  banquet  is  served  and  you  are  in  a  hurry 
and  want  to  have  the  speeches  immediately  following 
the  dinner,  you  cannot  do  it,  for  the  Waiters'  Union 
makes  it  arbitrary  that  all  the  dishes  shall  be  cleared 
away  before  the  speaking  begins.  I  was  told  that  at  a 
banquet  given  in  honor  of  a  visit  of  the  Prime  Min- 
ister of  Victoria  to  Sydney  some  months  ago,  they 
were  unable  to  have  any  speaking  at  all,  because  the 
time  consumed  in  clearing  the  tables  carried  them  clear 

103 


up  to  the  hour  when  the  Prime  Minister  had  to  hurry 
away  to  catch  his  train.  I  asked  a  telephone  man  if 
tJiey  manufactured  their  own  glass  insulators,  and  he 
said  "  No,  the  law  won't  let  a  man  take  a  breath  deep 
enough  in  Australia  to  blow  glass." 

The  multitude  of  laws  upon  the  labor  question  and 
government  ownership  of  railroads,  telephone  systems, 
street  cars,  water  supply  and  telegraph,  open  an  im- 
mense avenue  for  some  abuses,  and  there  are  great  dan- 
gers. That  no  one  can  doubt.  Individual  ownership 
and  adventure  are  not  put  at  such  a  premium  as  with 
us  in  the  United  States  and  Canada.  We  found  a 
strong  current  of  criticisms  concerning  the  attitude  of 
many  of  their  young  men  to  just  drift  along  and  take 
it  easy,  for  a  living  is  almost  guaranteed  by  the  gov- 
ernment. There  is  no  real  competition  in  the  sense 
that  word  implies  with  North  American  business  men. 
They  would  not  quite  admit  this,  for  some  of  the  men 
in  trade  think  they  have  competition,  but  my  observa- 
tion led  me  to  believe  that  they  do  not  know  what  the 
word  means.  No  other  evidence  is  necessary  than  to 
observe  the  great  warehouses  and  office  buildings  closed 
from  one  o'clock  to  two  o'clock  each  day,  while  every- 
body quietly  goes  to  lunch.  Would  that  not  be  an 
amusing  proposition  in  Wall  Street?  There  is  some 
fear  upon  the  part  of  capitalists  lest  they  will  not  be 
protected  in  future  investments.  The  laws  have  given 
the  political  socialist  and  agitator  a  fertile  soil  in  which 
to  exploit  his  government-destroying  theories,  and  I 
am  fully  persuaded  that  this  has  something  to  do  with 
the  lack  of  growth  in  population,  and  especially  with 
the  slow  enlargement  of  manufacturing.  There  are 
certainly  serious  difficulties,  but  I  believe  they  are  only 
passing  and  temporary.  At  first,  as  we  met  men,  talked 
over   these   questions   and   read   the   papers,   I   felt  be- 

104 


wildered  in  trying  to  see  through  it,  and  do  not  now 
pretend  to  have  more  than  a  superficial  knowledge,  but 
I  am  convinced  that  the  laws,  for  the  most  part,  are 
good  and  will  live,  and  that  other  nations  will  follow 
in  adopting  them. 

There  is  not  another  land  on  earth  with  so  little 
poverty  in  it.  That  district  of  destitution  which  is  in 
every  city  of  all  other  nations  I  have  ever  visited,  is 
not  to  be  found  in  either  Brisbane,  Melbourne,  Sydney 
or  Adelaide,  and  remember,  two  of  these  cities  have 
600,000  population  each.  There  is  not  another  nation 
where  every  man,  woman  and  child  has  such  a  good 
chance  for  a  decent,  comfortable  life  as  in  Australia. 
Those  who  fail  and  go  down  cannot  blame  society  for 
their  woes.  They  are  self-imposed  penalties.  Mr. 
Robins,  who  is  an  expert  and  a  scientific  student  of 
these  questions,  says  that  there  is  no  other  place 
where  wages  are  so  uniformly  good,  living  conditions 
so  favorable,  prices  so  moderate  as  in  Australia.  From 
the  material  standpoint,  they  have  reached  a  very  high 
standard. 

The  striking  thing  is  that  while  these  men  have  been 
engaged  in  passing  the  most  arbitrary  industrial  laws, 
they  have  permitted  in  many  cases  the  loosest  ones  to 
exist  upon  the  great  moral  questions.  The  public  bars 
are  loosely  run.  Men,  w^omen  and  children  patronize 
them  freely.  Apparently  the  bar-maid  is  no  small  part 
of  the  attraction  for  many  men.  Gambling  is  permit- 
ted at  race  tracks  and  cricket  matches.  They  need  a 
Governor  Hughes  with  some  real  convictions  on  the 
gambling  question  to  start  a  crusade  to  bring  them  up 
to  date.  The  laws  against  the  social  evil  are  so  vague 
and  technical  that  they  practically  cannot  be  enforced. 
Upon  this  question,  in  two  of  the  cities  we  discovered 
what  is  absolutely  the  most  ridiculous  and  absurd  leg- 

105 


islation  ever  known  among  professedly  Christian  peo- 
ple. These  legislators,  while  intensely  moved  concern- 
ing the  physical  and  economic  welfare  of  the  people, 
seem  to  have  had  their  minds  fixed  on  the  money  ques- 
tion, while  morals  were  pretty  well  forgotten  and  over- 
looked. 

I  have  written  rather  fully  upon  these  topics,  for 
the  Men  and  Religion  message  ran  right  into  them  at 
once  and  made  a  unique  setting  for  our  type  of  work. 
Probably  there  is  no  place  where  we  have  worked  or 
ever  will  work  where  the  significance  of  the  Men  and 
Religion  message  was  so  great  as  for  Australia,  and 
this  for  several  reasons. 

First. — A  people  may  pass  laws  until  doom's  day, 
or  until  the  dreamer  has  dreamed  his  last  dream,  and 
they  alone  will  not  make  people  good,  righteous  nor 
happy.  There  is  no  other  such  final  evidence  upon  this 
point  as  that  given  in  Australia.  From  the  standpoint 
of  legal  benefits,  they  have  nothing  more  to  ask.  Here 
young  men  receive  the  maximum  pay  for  the  minimum 
amount  of  work.  They  are  given  more  time  for  recre- 
ation and  the  pursuit  of  elements  of  personal  improve- 
ment than  was  ever  granted  to  any  other  people. 
Then,  as  though  a  goodly  Providence  would  put  the 
final  seal  upon  it,  this  test  is  being  made  in  a  climate 
perfectly  adapted  to  the  fulfillment  of  the  heart's 
fondest  desire.  Yet,  in  the  face  of  all  this,  young  men 
are  going  to  hell  by  the  route  of  whiskey,  gambling 
and  impurity  just  as  they  do  everywhere. 

The  last  word  has  been  spoken  in  answering  the 
question  whether  improvement  in  conditions  of  life  alone 
will  produce  good  morals.  Even  the  most  intense  critic 
of  the  Church  and  Religion  has  to  admit  that  laws  and 
high  ideals  do  not  of  themselves  produce  good  charac- 
ter.   Only  God,  the  Bible,  Jesus  Christ  and  the  Church 

106 


can  solve  the  moral  question.  This  is  so  terribly  mani- 
fest, and  the  developments  in  some  cases  are  so  dis- 
tressing and  so  discouraging,  that  a  cry  is  going  up 
throughout  the  whole  commonwealth  for  a  new  vitaliza- 
tion  of  the  moral  forces.  Therefore  we  arrived  at  a 
strategic  time,  when  the  greatest  men  of  every  walk 
were  ready  to  listen  to  what  we  had  to  say.  It  made  it 
possible  for  us  to  declare  the  indispensable  place  of 
Christianity  in  the  life  of  any  people,  and  to  have  the 
illustration  right  at  their  own  door  every  hour. 

Second. — The  message  concerning  the  place  of  the 
Church  as  a  force  in  social  life  never  had  such  a  ring  to 
it  as  in  Australia.  I  have  already  written  quite  fully  of 
the  wonderful  progress  of  welfare  legislation.  It  has  no 
equal,  but  the  sad  part  of  it  all  is  that  this  has  been 
wrought  almost  entirely  apart  from  Christian  organi- 
zations, and,  in  a  sense  we  had  never  witnessed  before, 
has  been  accomplished  in  opposition  to  the  influence  of 
the  Church.  We  are  all  agreed  that  in  Australia,  in  a 
larger  sense  than  in  any  other  place  we  have  ever 
worked,  "  Labor  "  and  the  "  Church  "  seem  estranged. 
To  speak  of  one  man  as  a  "  Labor  man  "  and  another 
as  a  "  Liberal  "  is  almost  synonymous  with  saying  that 
one  is  an  anti-church  and  the  other  a  church  man. 
The  greatest  men  among  the  Christian  forces,  both 
ministers  and  laymen,  said  that  they  believed  our  mes- 
sage would  be  wonderfully  blessed  of  God  in  helping 
the  Church  to  see  its  responsibility  for  social  work,  and 
equally  in  helping  the  labor  men  to  recognize  the  need 
of  a  vital  spiritual  message  in  their  work.  As  you  will 
at  once  recognize,  this  in  a  certain  degree  has  been  one 
of  the  unique  elements  of  the  Men  and  Religion  For- 
ward Movement  all  the  way  along,  but  it  was  vastly 
more  so  here  than  in  any  other  place  of  which  we  have 
knowledge.      The  Rev.  Frederick  C.   Spurr,  pastor  of 

107 


the  Collins  Street  Baptist  Church  in  Melbourne,  and 
possibly  the  most  unique  figure  in  the  church  life  of 
the  commonwealth,  one  night  in  prayer,  with  an  in- 
tensity that  we  cannot  soon  forget,  thanked  God  for 
the  wedding  ceremony  of  Evangelism  and  the  Social 
Service  message  which  the  Men  and  Religion  Movement 
was  performing.  If  we  ever  had  any  lingering  doubt 
about  these  two  messages  being  the  complement  the  one 
of  the  other,  it  was  eradicated  by  the  campaign  in  Aus- 
tralia. We  were  happy  in  presenting  a  method  by  which 
the  two  could  be  amalgamated.  The  remaining  serious 
question  is  whether  the  breach  between  the  Church  and 
the  labor  world  has  become  too  wide  for  remedy. 

Third. — The  emphasis  upon  the  need  and  power 
of  organizing  the  local  men  for  permanent  evangelis- 
tic "work  was  most  timely.  Australia  has  been  the  scene 
of  an  immense  amount  of  mass  evangelistic  effort  in 
the  past  ten  years.  I  can  speak  freely  for  I  have  par- 
ticipated in  it  myself  and  must,  therefore,  share  in  any 
word  that  seems  criticism.  Australia  has  been  visited 
by  about  everybody  in  sight  upon  the  evangelistic  ques- 
tion. There  have  been  some  tremendous  efforts  in  great 
evangelistic  campaigns.  Just  now,  the  criticism  upon 
this  type  of  work  is  more  terrific  there  than  in  any 
place  I  have  ever  visited,  and,  of  course,  as  is  always 
the  case,  some  extreme  things  are  being  said,  for  with- 
out doubt  great  good  has  followed  these  campaigns. 
And  yet,  after  making  every  allowance,  the  permanent 
results  have  been  fearfully  meager  and  not  at  all  in 
harmony  with  the  advertisements.  It  is  a  parody 
on  such  big  evangelistic  campaigns  if  the  saloons, 
brothels,  gambling  dens  and  dishonest  public  life,  and 
class  distinctions  have  not  been  disturbed  in  the  least. 
This  criticism  is  being  freely  and  publicly  made  by  their 
strongest  Christian  leaders.     The  message  of  the  Men 

108 


and  Religion  Movement,  emphasizing  as  it  has  all  the 
time  that  the  final  work  of  evangelism  is  a  local  respon- 
sibility, and  must  be  done  by  those  who  abide,  was  most 
needed,  for  in  every  city  we  visited  we  found  the  Chris- 
tian forces  stunned  in  a  sense,  and  wondering  what  to 
do  next.  Following  our  meetings,  we  heard  of  liter- 
ally hundreds  of  churches  where  they  were  calling  meet- 
ings of  their  own  men  to  organize  for  permanent  work. 
In  five  of  the  greatest  cities,  before  we  left,  they  had 
called  delegate  meetings  to  organize  Inter-Church 
Federations  for  the  continuance  of  those  portions  of 
the  message  common  to  the  whole  community.  I  thank 
God  for  the  spirit  that  was  developed  and  was  so 
manifest  of  deep  determination  upon  the  part  of  min- 
isters and  laymen  in  every  one  of  the  cities,  to  go  at 
the  job  themselves  rather  than  to  wait  for  another  cy- 
clone to  blow  in  from  somewhere. 

Fourth. — The  privilege  of  helping  to  strengthen 
the  position  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association 
was  one  of  the  gladdest  tasks.  Of  course,  we  were  there 
representing  various  organizations  upon  exactly  the 
same  basis  as  in  the  work  in  the  United  States,  commit- 
tees being  appointed  from  all  the  brotherhoods  and  all 
the  churches  as  well  as  from  the  Associations.  There- 
fore we  could  not  deal  exclusively  with  the  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association  problem.  But  I  was  anxious  to 
compare  the  Associations  of  1913  with  those  of  1905, 
when  I  was  there  before.  The  progress  has  been  sim- 
ply splendid.  The  total  membership  has  almost  doubled ; 
the  total  property  value  has  increased  33^;  the  secre- 
tarial staff  has  doubled;  the  relation  between  the  As- 
sociation and  the  Church  has  immensely  improved;  a 
larger  and  better  scope  of  work  is  being  done.  All 
along  the  way  I  found  splendid  returns  from  the  vis- 
its of  Dr.  Warner,  Messrs.  Morse,  Mott,  Budge  and 

109 


Pierce.  These  men,  each  in  turn,  have  left  a  contri- 
bution that  is  real  and  abiding.  Their  greatest  pres- 
ent need  is  for  a  permanent  national  secretary  who 
will  stay  with  the  work  for  at  least  the  next  ten  years. 
I  do  not  know  of  any  position  in  the  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association  anywhere  in  the  world  where  a 
man  is  more  needed  than  the  right  man  of  God's  choos- 
ing for  this  great  task.  We  had  in  every  city  some 
special  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  functions 
where  I  was  permitted  to  meet  the  Association  men  in 
special  conference.  These  events  reached  their  high- 
est point  of  interest  at  Melbourne,  the  headquarters 
of  the  national  committee,  and  I  found  the  whole  spirit 
of  things  there  to  be  one  of  expectation  concerning 
the  securing  of  a  national,  organizing,  superAasing 
leader. 

I  think  I  have  given  you  in  some  of  the  previous 
letters  a  summary  of  our  work,  but  I  am  now  glad  to 
say  that  we  have  had  the  privilege  of  presenting  the 
Men  and  Religion  program  to  92,651  men  and  boys 
in  conferences  and  meetings  since  leaving  home,  and  to 
40,718  men  and  boys  in  the  commonwealth  of  Australia 
at  113  meetings  and  conferences.  It  is  interesting  to 
note  that  I  have  spoken  177  times  since  leaving  home, 
and  that  Mr.  Robins  has  spoken  just  the  same  number 
of  times. 

Notwithstanding  the  breaks  in  sea  travel,  and  the 
time  thus  lost  in  actual  meetings,  it  looks  as  though  I 
myself  would  have  the  privilege  of  presenting  the 
claims  of  the  gospel  to  more  young  men  in  total  during 
this  year  than  in  any  previous  year  of  my  life.  For  all 
of  these  privileges,  for  the  constant  care  that  is  fol- 
lowing us,  and  for  the  sympathetic  messages  coming 
from  home,  we  thank  God. 

Notwithstanding  an  immense  amount  of  hard  work, 
110 


there  is  plenty  of  spice  in  it  all  the  time,  and  we  are 
never  permitted  to  grow  dull.  You  cannot  work  in  Aus- 
tralia without  plenty  of  animation.  One  of  the  little 
incidents  which  the  fellows  of  the  team  will  not  soon 
forget  occurred  in  Brisbane,  where  three  or  four  of 
the  men  were  in  a  book  store,  when  a  woman,  who  was 
a  little  the  worse  for  liquor,  walked  up  to  Alexander 
Hyde  and  said  to  him :  "  You  are  Mr.  Robins,  aren't 
you.f^  "  He  wanted  to  get  rid  of  her  and  half  turned 
away,  saying  that  he  was  not.  Then  she  said,  "  Well, 
I  know  that  Fred.  Smith.  He  cannot  fool  me.  He  is 
not  an  American,  he  is  a  Jew  from  the  north  of  Ire- 
land. He  got  his  education  in  America.  I  know  all 
about  it."  So  you  see,  at  last  I  am  discovered,  and 
will  have  to  give  up  talking  about  my  New  England 
blue  blood. 

Then,  too,  there  is  plenty  of  interest  in  the  ques- 
tion of  railway  travel.  To  us  one  of  the  most  amus- 
ing things  is  the  necessity  of  changing  cars  every  time 
you  cross  a  state  line.  I  believe  only  two  of  all  the 
states  have  the  same  railroad  gauge.  There  is  the 
5'3"  gauge,  the  ¥S\,  the  S'6\  the  ^6"  and  the  r 
gauge.  You  just  get  nicely  started  and  settled  down 
when  they  come  in  and  announce  that  you  have  to 
change  cars.  When  you  ask  what  has  happened,  they 
tell  you  that  you  are  going  "  over  the  line,"  which 
means  that  you  are  going  into  another  state.  Of  course, 
they  tell  you  this  is  going  to  be  modified,  and  I  guess 
it  will  be,  but  they  told  me  that  eight  years  ago  and 
there  has  been  no  change  yet. 

We  got  another  delightful  little  shock  the  other  day 
as  we  were  getting  onto  the  ship  at  Albany.  I  over- 
heard some  ladies  saying  that  they  understood  that 
there  were  "  some  very  distinguished  Americans  "  who 
had  just  come  on  board.     When  you  read  this,  please 

111 


emphasize  the  "  distinguished."  Another  lady  inquired 
about  them,  and  the  first  said  that  she  did  not  know 
just  who  they  were,  but  she  knew  that  they  were  "  dis- 
tinguished gentlemen,"  and  then  the  second  one  re- 
plied, "  Won't  it  be  lovely  to  hear  them  talk  ?  "  We 
have  felt  all  the  way  along  that  we  were  absolutely 
assured  of  good  audiences  in  Australia,  for,  apparently, 
our  accent  is  so  amusing  that  when  there  is  an  even 
chance  for  a  crowd  of  men  to  go  to  an  ordinary  enter- 
tainment or  come  to  hear  us  speak,  we  win,  for  it  is 
more  entertaining  than  anything  they  can  get  for  three 
shillings. 

I  had  another  rather  hot  shot  one  day  on  the  ship, 
when  a  man,  talking  with  me  on  the  question  of  smok- 
ing, commented  upon  the  fact  that  it  seemed  rather 
strange  to  him  that  none  of  our  party  were  "  smok- 
ers," further  stating,  "  About  all  of  you  chew."  I 
looked  at  him  in  amazement  and  said,  "  What  do  you 
mean.'^  There  is  not  one  in  the  party  who  ever  did 
such  a  dirty  trick."  His  reply  was,  "  Why,  really,  I 
thought  you  all  chewed  tobacco,  I  have  seen  you  chew- 
ing so  much."  Then  I  thought  a  little  more  carefully 
and  discovered  that  the  whole  Men  and  Religion  team 
had  exposed  themselves  to  the  suspicion  of  being  to- 
bacco chewers  because  an  ardent  friend  in  Adelaide, 
who  evidently  wanted  to  engraft  himself  in  our  affec- 
tions forever,  in  an  unguarded  moment  had  presented 
the  party  with  a  goodly  supply  of  spearmint  chewing 
gum,  and,  American  style,  we  have  been  going  up  and 
down  the  deck  chewing  our  cud,  and  the  Australian 
could  only  interpret  that  kind  of  motion  to  another 
method  of  handling  nicotine.  At  the  same  time  I  have 
been  reading  John  Foster  Fraser's  book  upon  "  The 
Panama  Canal,"  and  in  it  he  comments  upon  the  Ameri- 
can "  gum-chewing  habit  "  on  the  Canal.     It  may  be 

112 


a  little  more  excusable  than  tobacco,  but  I  have  made 
up  my  mind  not  to  look  at  another  piece  of  gum  as 
long  as  I  live. 

I  am  not  so  sure,  though,  but  that  we  could  pretty 
nearly  counter  on  the  gum-chewing  proposition,  for 
positively  there  is  nothing  more  amusing  in  a  world 
tour  than  to  see  that  kind  of  spell  which  comes  over 
a  Britisher  at  about  five  minutes  to  four  o'clock  every 
afternoon.  From  five  minutes  before  four  o'clock  until 
fifteen  minutes  before  five,  I  challenge  any  man  living 
to  talk  to  any  Britisher  upon  any  subject  under  the 
high  heaven  except  "  tea."  Yesterday  I  sat  in  my  room 
and  laughed  as  much  as  I  would  at  Barnum's  circus 
to  hear  them  outside  the  port  holes  chattering  like  the 
annual  meeting  of  a  ladies'  aid  society — men,  women 
and  children,  all  discussing  tea.  From  early  morning 
until  late  at  night,  the  whole  day's  program  is  outlined 
with  reference  to  not  interfering  with  tea.  Sports  stop 
for  tea.  Those  who  are  seasick,  with  marvelous  magic, 
get  out  of  their  bunks  and  partake  of  tea.  I  think  the 
Union  Jack  would  cease  to  wave,  and  the  British  lion 
would  go  down  to  ignominious  and  eternal  defeat  if 
tea  should  fail  this  people. 

The  unkindest  cut  of  all  came  to  us,  however,  just 
as  we  were  leaving  West  Australia.  A  newspaper  re- 
porter came  to  me  and  said  that  it  was  reported  over 
the  west  that  we  were  a  band  of  "  Mormon  Evan- 
gelists," who  were  out  to  establish  the  Mormon  Church 
in  Australia.  I  hastened  to  disabuse  his  mind.  Then, 
when  we  got  on  ship,  we  were  shocked  to  learn  that 
the  same  word  had  been  passed  on  to  the  passengers. 
I  am  supposed  to  be  a  nephew  of  the  great  Joseph 
Smith.  Isn't  it  awful?  Eight  men,  and  not  one  woman 
in  the  party,  and  then  to  be  accused  of  Mormonism! 
This  is  part  of  the  penalty  of  being  famous. 

113 


I  would  not  feel  as  though  I  had  really  written  you 
about  our  Australian  trip  unless  I  told  you  about  our 
three  days'  rest  at  Albany.  This  is  a  little  town  on  the 
west  coast  where  we  had  to  wait  to  catch  our  ship  for 
South  Africa.  We  broke  up  into  pairs  and  triplets, 
and  went  fishing,  mountain  climbing  and  anything  we 
wanted  to  do  for  recreation.  Robins  and  I  got  two 
riding  horses,  rolled  up  our  blankets,  took  a  few  crack- 
ers and  sardines  and  started  right  back  into  the  "  bush." 
The  bush  is  Australia's  term  for  describing  the  interior 
country.  It  is  practically  covered  with  an  undergrowth 
and  big  gum  trees,  and  their  name  for  it  is  "  the  bush." 
The  first  night  we  rode  out  about  fifteen  miles  into  a 
district  that  seemed  so  wild  that  you  would  doubt 
whether  white  men  had  ever  been  there  before,  rode  by 
moonlight  until  about  nine  o'clock,  then  we  went  up  on 
the  side  of  a  mountain,  hitched  our  horses,  lay  down  on 
the  ground  and  slept  the  sleep  of  the  just.  It  was  per- 
fectly glorious.  The  night  was  cloudless,  the  moon  was 
shining  and  the  bright  stars  seemed  literally  to  fill  the 
sky,  with  the  great  Southern  Cross  in  the  center  of  it 
all.  It  was  rather  cold,  for  it  is  winter  there  now. 
We  built  a  big  camp  fire,  and  I  don't  think  I  have  put 
in  a  finer  night  in  ten  years.  The  next  day  we  rode 
on,  crossing  the  King  and  Kalgan  rivers,  circled 
around  the  mountains,  sometimes  following  a  trail  and 
sometimes  riding  by  the  direction  of  the  sun.  The  sec- 
ond night  we  saw  what  we  thought  was  an  approaching 
storm,  and  hunted  for  a  "  settlement "  which,  in  our 
terms,  would  be  a  farm  house,  and  put  up  for  the  night. 
We  were  out  three  days,  scaring  up  wild  kangaroo 
and  playing  at  being  real  Australian  "  bush  men." 
Every  man  we  met  (there  were  only  a  few  of  them) 
we  stopped  and  visited  with  concerning  the  country,  its 
future   and   its    prospects.      Perhaps    we   learned   more 

114 


about  real  Australian  country  life  in  those  three  days 
than  we  could  know  by  all  the  rest  of  our  time  there. 
I  have  spoken  of  some  of  the  difficulties  of  the  coun- 
try. They  are  terribly  wrought  up  by  the  unrest  and 
conflict  between  capital  and  labor.  They  are  more  or 
less  in  distress  concerning  their  climate.  The  amount 
of  rainfall  is  always  an  uncertain  quantity.  But  I  be- 
lieve their  most  serious  problem  is  the  development  of 
a  real,  genuine,  undivided  patriotism.  I  do  not  mean 
by  this  to  hint  that  they  are  not  in  love  with  their  coun- 
try, but  it  seems  secondary  with  everybody.  They  all 
talk  about  "  going  home,"  meaning  back  to  the  British 
Isles.  I  referred  to  the  night  we  stayed  at  a  "  settle- 
ment." The  man's  name  was  Wilfred  Warthwyke.  He 
has  been  out  there  twenty-five  years ;  came  when  twenty- 
two  years  of  age ;  has  two  fine  farms,  one  of  100  acres 
and  another  of  1,000  acres.  His  wife  was  born  in  Aus- 
tralia, and  has  never  been  away  from  it.  But  they  are 
selling  out  to  "  go  home."  On  the  ship,  yesterday,  I 
fell  into  conversation  with  two  young  men,  both  of  them 
of  Australian  birth.  I  inquired  where  they  were  going, 
and  they  said  they  were  "  going  home,"  en  route  to 
England.  We  have  a  minister  on  board,  the  Rev.  Vic- 
tor Bell,  pastor  of  a  very  influential  church  in  Sydney. 
He  and  his  wife  are  making  their  first  voyage  away 
from  Australia,  but  in  conversation  with  Mr.  Bell  he 
was  rejoicing  in  the  fact  that  he  was  "  going  home." 
I  talked  with  the  pastor  of  one  of  the  largest  churches 
in  the  whole  commonwealth,  with  a  membership  of  over 
1,500.  He  has  been  in  Australia  for  nearly  fifteen 
years.  He  now  feels  that  when  he  has  completed  the 
fifteenth  year,  he  is  entitled  to  "  go  home."  There  is 
that  kind  of  transitory  feeling,  as  though  Australia 
were  a  probationary  place,  and  the  great  goal  is  to  "  go 

There 

115 


is  no  such  feeling  in  Canada.  I  do  not  believe  that  Aus- 
tralia will  ever  develop  as  it  ought  until  there  is  a  larger 
consciousness  that  it  is  the  real,  permanent,  happy 
home  of  the  people. 

I  must  not  utterly  weary  you.  There  are  about  forty 
things  more  about  which  I  would  like  to  write  you,  but 
must  not  do  so  for  fear  this  epistle  will  appear  too 
voluminous. 

Always  and  every  day  we  are  thanking  God  for  our 
privilege,  and  for  the  wonderful  care  which  is  taking 
us  on  the  long  journey  without  any  illness  or  accident, 
and  best  of  all,  for  continued  good  news  from  home. 

Yours    as  ever, 

Fred.  B.  Smith. 


IIG 


IX 

En   route  Capetown,  South  Africa,  to  London,  Eng- 
land, June  2-i,  1913. 

My  dear  Friend  :  Again,  after  a  terrific  campaign 
of  six  weeks  in  South  Africa,  we  find  ourselves  out  on 
the  big  water,  having  just  sent  a  cable  to  White  Plains 
which  read  "  Homeward  Bound."  I  pity  the  man  who 
stays  at  home  all  the  time  and  never  knows  the  joy  of 
sending  such  a  cable  after  nearly  seven  months  away 
from  home.  I  can  hardly  believe  that  we  are  nearing 
the  end,  and  are  now  making  our  last  long  sea  voyage. 

I  have  this  morning  been  looking  over  the  pages  of 
the  copies  of  the  letters  I  have  written  you,  and  remem- 
bering the  volume  I  have  sent,  I  almost  pity  you  when 
I  think  that  I  am  again  writing  to  you,  this  time  to  try 
to  interpret  what  is  in  our  hearts  concerning  great, 
wonderful,  sunny  South  Africa.  As  my  memory  sweeps 
me  back  over  the  incidents  from  that  wonderful  night 
in  the  Hotel  Astor  in  New  York  City,  up  to  this  present 
hour,  there  has  been  only  one  place  where  we  could  say 
that  our  reception  had  not  been  hearty  and  cordial,  and 
only  one  place  where  we  have  an}^  very  serious  misgiv- 
ings about  the  results.  We  are  deeply  and  profoundly 
grateful  to  God  for  His  good  hand,  so  markedly  mani- 
fest in  every  city  and  in  every  place,  but,  like  that  fa- 
mous wedding  feast,  we  are  prepared  to  say  that  in 
His  good  providence,  the  best  was  reserved  until  the 
last. 

When  I  visited  South  Africa  five  years  ago  it  got 
hold  of  my  affections  and  interest  in  a  way  that  no  other 

117 


country  save  my  own  had  ever  done.  I  could  hardly  tell 
why,  but  I  am  greatly  interested  now  to  note  that  it 
has  had  the  same  effect  upon  all  of  us  this  time.  I 
believe  every  man  in  the  party  if  he  was  to  say  this 
morning  which  of  all  the  places  visited  he  would  most 
like  to  revisit  would  without  delay  say  South  Africa. 
This  is  not  to  be  interpreted  as  in  any  way  belittling  our 
interest  in  other  places,  or  suggesting  any  indifference 
to  the  issues  of  the  Kingdom  in  other  nations  where 
we  have  shared  a  little  in  Christian  work,  but  there  is 
an  undefinable  something  about  South  Africa  that  stirs 
one  through  and  through. 

Perhaps  this  may  be  in  part  the  sentiment  that  is 
aroused  within  us  because  of  the  fact  that  it  seems  to 
be  a  land  of  the  most  perplexing  problems.  I  believe 
that  there  are  more  cross  currents  to  deal  with  in  South 
Africa  than  in  any  other  place  of  which  I  have  knowl- 
edge. First,  you  start  out  immediately  with  the  Eng- 
lish versus  the  Dutch  situation.  From  the  very  begin- 
ning until  the  finish  in  nearly  every  meeting  we  held, 
some  prayers  would  be  offered  in  English  and  some  in 
Dutch.  The  public  schools  are  conducted  in  two  lan- 
guages. The  debates  in  Parliament  are  in  the  two  lan- 
guages. Practically  all  of  the  signs  and  advertise- 
ments on  the  streets,  over  the  shop  windows,  on  the 
railway  trains  are  in  two  languages.  And  there  is  a 
sharp,  keen  competition  going  on.  The  leaders  of  each 
group  are  watching  the  other  with  critical  eye  to  see 
that  by  no  means  shall  one  language  become  the  ex- 
clusive one.  This  is  not  to  be  understood  as  indicating 
any  excessive  bitterness,  though  there  is  some,  but  for 
the  most  part  the  two  races  of  white  people  are  mov- 
ing together  in  sympathetic  and  fraternal  relations. 
But  there  is  no  disguising  the  fact  that  the  language 
question  is  a  burning  issue  in  South  Africa,  and  they 

118 


are  all  wondering  what  the  future  has  in  store  for  them 
in  this  matter. 

Perhaps  this  unusual  interest  is  aroused  in  a  spe- 
cial way  with  Americans  because  there  is  so  much  talk 
of  the  things  which  have  happened  "  since  the  war." 
It  is  wonderful  to  think  that  only  a  little  over  ten  years 
ago  the  whole  northern  half  of  that  country,  which  is 
now  being  brought  together  so  happily  into  one  union, 
was  being  baptized  in  war,  and  that  33,000  brave  Brit- 
ishers and  Dutchmen  had  given  of  their  blood  in  de- 
fense of  what  they  thought  to  be  right.  It  is  not 
strange  that  some  feel  restless  concerning  the  slow 
progress  of  reconstruction  in  some  particulars,  but  to 
us  familiar  with  the  transition  days  after  our  Civil 
War  it  seems  nothing  short  of  a  miracle  that  they  have 
accomplished  so  much  in  these  few  years.  The  most 
striking  of  it  all  is  that  while  the  British  flag  waves 
from  the  Zambesi  to  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  unques- 
tioned by  all,  and  I  think  practically  representing  a 
patriotic  British  people,  yet  the  country  is  essentially 
governed  by  Dutchmen.  Possibly  the  one  item,  apart 
from  our  meetings,  that  I  shall  always  remember  with 
greatest  pride  and  a  little  American  conceit,  was  the 
luncheon  given  to  us  in  the  Parliament  House  by  Gen- 
eral Botha,  the  Prime  Minister  of  the  Union.  There 
also  sat  at  the  table  General  J.  C.  Smuts,  Minister  of 
Finance;  Hon.  J.  W.  Sauer,  Minister  of  Native  Af- 
fairs, and  the  Hon.  F.  ^lalan.  Minister  of  Education. 
These,  without  any  doubt  the  four  most  powerful  men  in 
the  Government,  are  all  Dutchmen.  It  is  natural  that 
some  of  the  old-time  residents  from  the  British  Isles 
should  be  wondering  what  the  war  was  all  about,  and 
perhaps  expressing  themselves  as  rather  dissatisfied 
with  the  general  tendency  toward  the  supremacy  of 
the  Dutch,  but  that  is  only  a  passing  incident  in   an 

119 


almost  unequalled  program  of  building  a  new  united 
nation  from  those  discordant  parts.  I  am  sure, 
however,  that  all  of  this  has  a  unique  interest  for  Amer- 
icans, for  we  have  seen  our  country  pass  through  ex- 
actly this  complicated  situation  to  a  very  happy  solu- 
tion. 

Perhaps  our  unusual  interest,  however,  may  be  more 
certainly  influenced  by  the  tremendous  question  which 
is  there  involved  concerning  the  complications  of  the 
relations  between  the  white  men  and  the  natives.  There 
is  no  doubt  that  South  Africa  has  a  real  difficulty  to 
overcome  in  the  co-ordination  of  the  Dutch  and  the 
English,  but  that  is  only  insignificant  as  contrasted 
with  this  other  question  of  white  versus  black.  In 
South  Africa  there  is  a  white  population  of  about 
1,250,000.  In  the  same  territory  there  is  a  popula- 
tion of  10,000,000  blacks,  but  now  they  are  no  longer 
to  confine  themselves  to  the  issues  of  South  Africa 
alone,  for  the  opening  of  the  "  Cape  to  Cairo  route  " 
is  going  to  give  them  quickly  the  problem  of  Africa 
as  a  continent,  and  this  means  200,000,000  blacks  as 
contrasted  with  2,000,000  white  people.  In  Australia 
the  aborigine  has  passed  away  in  the  presence  of  civ- 
ilization. For  some  mysterious  reason  he  could  not  live 
under  its  restraints.  The  same  is  true  of  the  red  man 
of  North  America.  He  has  faded  away  in  the  presence 
of  the  white  men's  modern  houses,  railways,  steamships 
and  cities,  but  this  is  not  to  be  the  record  in  Africa. 
There  is  abundant  evidence  now  that  the  black  man  will 
not  only  live  in  South  Africa,  but  that  he  will  thrive 
and  multiply  even  more  rapidly  under  domesticated  life 
than  in  his  native  kraal.  This  seems  to  demand  that 
a  permanent  method  of  living  and  working  together 
shall  be  developed.  Of  course  we  felt  that  we  had  some 
little  intelligence  from  the  experiences  of  our  American 

120 


^  I 


life  with  the  negroes,  and  yet  our  deductions  could  not 
be  accepted  as  final,  for  with  us  the  proportion  stands 
at  one  black  man  to  every  ten  white  men,  while  in 
South  Africa  there  is  but  one  white  man  to  every 
twenty  black  men.  This  question,  which  is  so  acute  in 
South  Africa,  is  rapidly  becoming  a  world  issue.  The 
white  man  is  going  everywhere,  and  the  morning  after 
he  arrives  he  expects  to  take  charge  of  everything  in 
sight,  and  does.  The  final  answer  to  the  white  man's 
supremacy  is  one  of  the  biggest  problems  of  the  world 
in  the  next  few  generations.  A  few  pale  faces  are  rul- 
ing India.  A  few  of  the  same  color  are  in  charge  of 
Egypt.  A  few  more  are  holding  the  reins  in  the  Ha- 
waiian and  the  Philippine  Islands.  Another  little  group 
is  doing  the  same  thing  for  South  Africa.  Approx- 
imately 600,000,000  "  natives  "  of  these  various  soils 
are  taking  orders  from  about  2,500,000  whites,  while 
a  few  thousand  more  generous  Anglo-Saxons  and  Teu- 
tons sit  on  the  periphery  of  China  with  its  400,000,000, 
kindly  "  advising  "  them,  and  40,000,000  Japanese  are 
wondering  when  their  turn  will  come.  What  the  last 
chapter  is  to  be  may  make  the  wisest  men  pause.  Will 
the  white  race  finally  prevail  and  the  darker  ones  die 
out  entirely  ?  Will  the  races  intermingle  until  a  common 
new  race  emerges  .^  Will  the  darker  skins,  so  much 
greater  in  numerical  power,  awake  some  day  and  take 
charge  of  the  whole  earth,  and  reverse  the  order  by 
making  the  white  man  get  up  and  build  the  early  fires 
for  a  few  years  ?  Will  there  arise  a  prophet  big  enough 
to  call  a  World  Conference  to  establish  universal 
methods  of  segregation.^  Will  the  races  gradually 
learn  how  to  dwell  together  in  equity  .^^  These  are  some 
of  the  questions  which  cannot  be  permanently  evaded, 
but  are  rapidly  to  demand  answer.  Just  now  it  is 
White's  move,  and  his  measure  is  to  be  taken  in  what 

121 


he  does.  It  is  very  easy  for  the  idealist  to  stand  off  at 
long  range  and  give  positive  statements  concerning  the 
solution  of  these  questions,  but  it  is  a  tremendous  and 
almost  overwhelming  problem. 

Perhaps  our  unique  interest  in  South  Africa  may 
be  accounted  for  partly  by  the  sharp  contest  going  on 
throughout  all  of  that  country  as  to  whether  it  shall  be 
a  nation  controlled  and  governed  practically  for  the  ex- 
tension of  their  three  greatest  industries — gold,  dia- 
monds and  ostrich  feathers — or  whether  there  shall  be 
taken  into  account  the  greater  possibility  of  the  agri- 
cultural realm.  Here,  again,  we  found  two  strong  cur- 
rents, the  one  insisting  that  it  was  the  purpose  and  plan 
of  the  Creator  that  the  country  should  be  agricultural 
and  pastoral,  the  other  saying  that  it  was  essentially  a 
country  of  the  special  interests  named.  It  is  to  be  ex- 
pected that  the  special  privileges  will  claim  a  good  deal, 
for  at  present  they  are  on  top.  Johannesburg  is  turn- 
ing out  $155,000,000  worth  of  gold  every  year,  and  the 
best  engineers  say  that  it  will  take  at  least  a  hundred 
years  more  to  mine  what  is  now  known  to  exist,  and  that 
the  undiscovered  fields  present  a  bewildering  possibility 
in  gold.  In  the  diamond  mines  they  are  producing 
$30,000,000  worth  annually,  and  the  only  question  with 
them  is  that  of  the  market.  In  the  realm  of  feathers, 
South  Africa  boasts  of  about  7,000,000  ostriches, 
every  one  of  them  of  plume-producing  age,  good  for  ap- 
proximately $50  per  head  annually,  and  the  average  age 
of  the  birds  is  twenty-five  years.  A  little  mathematics 
reveals  the  fact  that  the  ostrich  is  a  "  clever  bird."  It 
is  no  wonder  therefore  that  these  three  interests  feel 
pretty  "  uppish  "  concerning  their  prestige  in  South 
Africa.  Of  course  we  were  constantly  reminded  of  the 
fact  that  all  of  these  are  in  operation  because  the  luxuri- 
ous American  is  bound  to  have  his  fastidious  nature  sat- 

122 


Headman,"  Zulu,  Kraal 


isfied.  Seventy-five  per  cent  of  all  the  diamonds  go  to 
America,  also  ninety  per  cent  of  all  the  best  feathers 
and  considerably  more  than  half  the  gold.  If  the 
women  of  the  United  States  should  have  a  spell  of 
twenty  years  of  good  hard  horse  sense,  at  least  the 
feather  and  the  diamond  business  would  be  bankrupt. 
These  big  manipulators  are  just  sitting  down  there  in 
South  Africa  pouring  out  diamonds  and  feathers  and 
cooing  over  the  crazy  American  women.  Notwith- 
standing all  of  this,  however.  South  Africa's  greatest 
future  is  in  agriculture,  and  everywhere  I  went  I  was 
amazed  to  see  the  marvelous  development.  Cattle,  sheep, 
maize,  mealies  and  wheat  will  be  telling  their  story 
after  the  others  will  have  been  forgotten. 

Perhaps  we  may  find  a  partial  key  to  our  great  inter- 
est in  South  Africa  in  its  wonderfully  unique  scenery, 
its  marvelous  climate  and  its  high  sunny  skies.  I  do 
not  believe  that  there  is  any  other  place  where  it  seems 
as  though  the  sky  were  so  high  and  the  horizon  so  wide 
as  out  upon  that  great  rand  of  Johannesburg.  It  is 
the  only  place  in  the  world  where  it  did  not  seem  to  me 
as  though  the  sky  came  down  to  the  earth  at  all.  It 
just  seems  as  though  there  is  no  end  to  it.  Then  there 
are  the  Victoria  Falls,  the  most  wonderful  on  earth. 
The  great  stretches  of  veldt,  dotted  here  and  there  by 
the  Kaffir  kraals,  somehow  lay  hold  upon  me  in  a  way 
that  I  cannot  explain.  Every  time  I  saw  one  of  them 
I  w^anted  to  go  to  it.  I  never  had  a  better  time  than 
when  I  could  get  away  for  a  while  and  drove  out  among 
them. 

Capetown,  with  its  wonderful  Table  Mountain,  the 
Twelve  Apostles,  and  the  Lion's  Head,  towering  up  over 
it  in  majestic  grandeur;  Durban,  with  its  bathing 
beach,  esplanade,  botanical  gardens  and  wonderful 
clubs ;   Pretoria   the  beautiful,   nestling  in   among  the 

128 


hills  like  a  painted  picture,  with  its  massive  Government 
building,  large  enough  to  put  our  Capitol  inside  and 
never  know  it  was  there — all  of  these  form  one  constant 
round  of  interest. 

Of  all  the  sea  voyages  I  have  known,  the  most  beau- 
tiful is  from  the  Philippine  Islands  to  Australia,  but 
next  comes  the  one  to  South  Africa.  I  marvel  that  the 
globe  trotters  have  not  fallen  into  the  South  African 
habit  more  than  they  have.  There  is  beauty  enough  in 
South  Africa  to  make  it  fascinating  to  a  high  degree. 

But  I  think  when  we  have  given  due  recognition  to 
all  of  these  items,  the  one  thing  that  to  me  at  least 
commands  the  deepest  love,  greatest  admiration  and 
fondest  hope  is  the  colossal  moral  and  religious  problem. 
Here  upon  this  soil  I  believe  there  is  to  be  fought  out 
the  last  great  issue  of  Christianizing  the  world.  We 
witnessed  some  distressing  and  almost  bewildering 
scenes  and  problems  in  Japan.  I  can  never  forget 
them.  We  only  touched  the  fringe  of  China,  but  we 
were  there  long  enough  to  feel  its  throb  and  know 
something  of  its  meaning.  I  have  not  forgotten  India, 
with  its  hungry  three  hundred  millions  of  people,  but 
in  every  one  of  these  there  is  a  sense  in  which  all  the 
time  you  see  education,  culture  and  some  advanced  civ- 
ilization. In  South  Africa  you  are  immediately  facing 
the  unfathomed  depths  of  heathendom.  We  were  privi- 
leged to  spend  one  day  at  Amanzimtoti.  There  we 
saw  four  hundred  students  in  that  lovely  school  being 
taught  not  only  the  truths  of  Christianity,  but  being 
taught  also  to  do  everything  that  is  helpful  for  life. 
Then  you  could  go  out  five  miles  and  find  people  so 
wild  and  heathen  that  you  would  think  they  had  never 
seen  a  white  man  or  heard  of  a  book  or  knew  that  there 
was  such  a  thing  as  the  Church  in  all  the  world. 

I  had  the  privilege  of  spending  two  days  at  Love- 
124 


dale,  which  is  the  great  high  place  of  missionary  en- 
deavor under  the  United  Free  Church  of  Scotland. 
Here  they  have  over  a  thousand  students,  and  I  saw 
them  teaching  those  boys  and  girls  everything  from 
gardening,  horticulture,  carpentering,  blacksmithing, 
plumbing,  making  shoes  and  harness  and  wagons  clear 
up  to  the  highest  mathematics  and  literature.  Lovedale 
was  founded  by  the  great  missionary  James  Stewart  in 
1839,  and  is  now  presided  over  by  the  Rev.  James 
Henderson.  From  this  great  center,  where  this  wonder- 
ful work  has  been  going  on  for  all  of  these  years,  pro- 
ducing the  most  splendid  type  of  Christian  young  men 
and  women,  I  drove  out  five  miles  and  was  in  the  center 
of  a  heathendom  wild  enough,  vicious  enough  and  sad 
enough  to  break  your  heart.  I  have  never  seen  any 
place  in  the  world  where  heathendom  and  Christianity 
are  brought  into  such  close  contrast. 

I  cannot  begin  to  tell  you  all  the  missions  I  visited, 
but  I  will  add  that  I  was  proud  of  our  American  repre- 
sentatives, among  whom  some  of  the  most  powerful  are 
Bunker,  McCord  and  Foss,  of  Durban ;  LeRoy,  of 
Amanzintoti;  Taylor,  of  Maritzburg,  and  Bridgman, 
of  the  Transvaal.  This  missionary  situation  is  itself 
enough  to  make  South  Africa  a  country  of  commanding 
interest  to  anyone  who  believes  that  the  whole  world 
ought  to  have  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ.  But  this 
is  not  the  only  factor  of  intense  interest  in  the  religious 
condition  of  South  Africa.  The  whole  church  question 
is  passing  through  a  transition.  The  most  remarkable 
thing  in  it  is  the  newer  spirit  looking  toward  federa- 
tion. In  our  own  work  I  was  much  impressed  with  two 
wings  of  the  Church  with  which  I  did  not  have  much 
intimate  relation  when  I  was  there  before,  but  they  were 
conspicuous  by  their  co-operation.  I  refer  to  the 
Dutch  Reformed  Church  and  the  Church  of  England. 

125 


From  the  time  we  touched  at  Durban  until  the  final 
meeting  in  Capetown,  which  was  held  in  the  new  Cathe- 
dral, and  presided  over  by  the  Venerable  Dean  C.  W. 
Barnett-Clarke,  we  had  the  heartiest  support  not  only 
from  the  laity  and  the  rectors  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, but  from  the  Archbishop,  the  Bishops  and  the 
Archdeacons  who  all  co-operated  with  us  with  a  cordial- 
ity that  can  never  be  forgotten,  and  this  same  thing 
was  true  of  the  Dutch  Reformed  Church.  One  of  the 
outstanding  results  in  South  Africa,  I  am  sure,  is  going 
to  be  an  enlarged  federated  activity  that  will  bring  to- 
gether all  branches  of  the  Church. 

Then,  too,  in  this  religious  problem,  we  faced  anew 
the  question  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association 
and  its  work.  I  heard  a  good  deal  about  what  is  being 
spoken  of  as  the  "  American  invasion  "  and  its  results. 
For  the  last  few  years  there  has  been  a  rather  insistent 
American  emphasis  there  in  the  Association  work.  This 
was  occasioned  by  the  visit  of  Dr.  Mott  some  years  ago 
organizing  the  Student  Movement.  He  left  Mr.  Owen 
Bull,  a  strong  Traveling  Secretary,  who  is  still  there 
doing  grand  work  among  the  schools,  colleges  and 
universities.  Then,  following  my  first  visit,  we  sent  out 
six  or  seven  men.  Of  these  there  still  remain  in  the 
country  Frank  Howe,  General  Secretary  at  East  Lon- 
don, and  E.  D.  Ranck,  General  Secretary  at  Johannes- 
burg, both  doing  magnificent  work.  The  most  marked 
of  the  men  who  have  been  in  their  secretarial  ranks  is 
our  own  International  Secretary  of  the  Army  and  Navy 
Department,  Mr.  John  S.  Tichenor.  Everywhere  we 
went  I  found  he  had  left  a  fine  impression.  The  only 
regret  was  that  he  did  not  remain  as  the  national  leader, 
and  good  words  are  said  of  the  other  men  who  have  re- 
turned. They  all  did  good  work,  but  could  have  multi- 
plied their  influence  by  longer  service.     We  have  been 

126 


Basuta  and  Zulu  interpreters  both  used  at  one  time 


most  happy  In  this  campaign  in  assisting  in  the  raising 
of  funds  necessary  to  carry  on  a  national  work,  and 
our  Harry  N.  Hohnes,  who  has  been  the  advance  guard 
and  Organizing  Secretary  of  the  Men  and  Religion 
World  Tour,  bade  us  good-bye  at  Capetown,  and  re- 
mains there  to  conserve  the  work  of  the  Men  and  Re- 
ligion Campaign,  and  to  take  the  national  secretary- 
ship of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Associations  of 
South  Africa. 

The  most  significant  advance  of  the  past  five  years 
has  been  in  Johannesburg,  where  they  have  built  a  fine 
building  and  are  pushing  forward  a  great  work.  I 
am  persuaded,  however,  that  the  deepest  interest  is 
in  the  men  vre  met  and  their  brave  efforts  for  the 
Kingdom  of  God.  Stronger  and  grander  than  build- 
ings is  the  coming  into  the  life  of  the  Associations 
of  some  very  strong  new  blood  among  laymen.  I  could 
mention  many  if  time  would  permit,  but  the  most 
marked  is  ^Ir.  H.  Wallace  Soutter,  President  of  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce  in  Johannesburg,  and  also 
Chairman  of  the  National  Council  of  the  Young  Men's 
Christian  Associations  for  the  Union.  He  is  simply 
marvelous  in  his  leadership  in  that  work.  He  has  been 
going  from  city  to  city  as  a  paid  Secretary  would  go 
and  dealing  with  them  with  scientific  ability  upon  their 
local  problems.  I  have  said  of  him  several  times  that 
I  have  thought  of  him  as  a  sort  of  combined  James 
G.   Cannon   and  Alfred   E.   Marling. 

I  do  not  dare  to  weary  you  with  too  much  detail, 
but  we  are  simply  filled  with  enthusiasm  about  our 
South  African  Campaign.  So  far  as  the  national  vis- 
its are  concerned.  South  Africa  stands  first  in  attend- 
ance and  number  of  meetings,  although  Melbourne, 
Australia,  outstripped  any  other  one  city.  Taking  our 
whole  tour   thus  far,  we  have  held   48T   meetings   and 

127 


conferences,  with  a  total  attendance  of  158,281  men 
and  boys,  and  by  the  time  we  reach  New  York  we  will 
have  traveled  42,308  miles.  I  have  been  rather  inter- 
ested to  know  that  notwithstanding  our  long  time  be- 
tween points  in  travel,  I  will  have  personally  addressed 
more  men  in  this  year  than  in  any  year  in  my  life. 
I  have  been  going  at  about  100,000  or  a  little  more 
each  year.      This  year  will  reach  far  beyond  that. 

I  never  felt  less  in  my  life  like  boasting  of  things 
done  than  I  do  to-day,  but  I  am  tremendously  humble 
in  the  presence  of  the  testimonies  we  have  heard  con- 
cerning the  influence  of  our  visit  in  South  Africa.  A 
great  company  of  men  followed  us  down  to  the  ship, 
and  I  can  say  truthfully  that  never  in  all  my  life  have 
I  listened  to  such  words  of  commendation  as  I  heard 
there  the  last  day  as  we  were  preparing  to  leave.  God 
has  seen  fit  to  use  us  and  we  are  praying  for  grace 
enough  to  give  Him  the  praise. 

Every  hour  now  reduces  the  distance  between  us  and 
home,  and  we  are  finding  it  difficult  to  be  patient. 

Very,  very  best  love, 

Fred.  B.  Smith. 


128 


o 


X 

Nearin£j  London  en  route  from  Capetown,  South 
Africa,  July  4,  1913. 

Dear  Mr.  Cannon:  This  is  the  glorious  4th  of 
July,  and  we  are  celebrating  on  the  sea,  although 
there  is  rather  a  sombre  note  in  the  proceedings  foi 
me  at  least.  I  am  not  sure  whether  I  ought  to  weep 
or  sing,  shout  or  wail.  I  am  compelled  to  relate  an 
unlooked-for  incident  in  our  world  tour.  We  have 
just  held  one  "  conference "  which  was  not  on  the 
schedule.  This  unexpected  one  promises  to  do  more 
to  make  me  famous  than  any  one  of  the  whole  cam- 
paign. ''In  long  sea  voyages  one  of  the  things  which 
help  to  keep  up  the  spirits  of  the  passengers  is  the 
breaks  in  the  voyage  by  "  port  of  entry  calls."  From 
Capetown  to  Southampton  the  mail  steamers  of  the 
Union  Castle  Steamship  Company  have  one  such  call 
at  Funchal  on  the  coast  of  the  Madeira  Islands,  a 
Portuguese  possession.  We  looked  forward  to  that 
day  for  a  week. 

Well,  it  at  last  arrived.  It  is  now  over  and  we  are 
sailing  on,  a  wiser  company,  and  life  can  never  be 
the  same  again.  I  at  least  am  a  changed  man.  You 
may  take  my  picture  out  of  the  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce, where  it  now  hangs,  and  put  it  into  the  Hall  of 
Fame.  I  am  not  sure  in  just  which  gallery  it  ought 
to  appear,  but  it  certainly  should  go  there  somewhere. 
I  have  been  an  inmate  of  a  Portuguese  prison,  the 
subject  of  a  conspiracy,  the  hero  of  a  dramatic  inves- 
tigation, the  central  figure  of  a  romantic  escape. 

My  name  may  go  down  in  the  galaxy  with  Napo- 
129 


leon  Bonaparte  upon  St.  Helena,  or  Captain  Drey- 
fus upon  Devil  Island,  the  difference  being  that,  poor 
as  their  accommodations  were,  they  had  some  provi- 
sion. I  had  neither  food,  water  nor  a  bed.  Had  the 
issues  of  my  incarceration  been  a  little  different  I 
might  be  listed  with  John  Bunyan  or  the  Apostle  Paul, 
but  even  their  "  light  afflictions  "  can  hardly  match 
my  troubles.  Perhaps  when  you  have  gotten  the  full 
setting  you  may  be  led  to  reserve  a  space  for  my  por- 
trait in  the  "  Carrie  Nation  "  ward  or  with  the  Lon- 
don Suffragettes.  Some  may  be  confused  in  the  final 
decision  between  Darius  Green,  Cook  the  Explore!*, 
Jack  Johnson  or  myself.  However,  that  is  a  detail — 
the  fact  is,  I  have  been  made  famous  in  one  single  day. 
Let  me   tell    you    about    it. 

The  incident  really  begins  the  night  before  we 
reached  Madeira.  We  had  the  regulation  "  concert  " 
and  "  presentation  of  prizes  "  for  deck  sports.  Of 
the  latter,  I  may  modestly  suggest  that  I  received 
two  prizes  for  having  won  the  two  most  difficult  ath- 
letic events.  In  the  concert  a  comic  theatrical  per- 
former sang  a  song  which  went   as  follows : 

"  SETTING  THE  VILLAGE  ON  FIRE  " 

In  the  village  they  always  thought  I  was   so  quiet. 

But  lately  they've  had  a  big  sell. 
With  my  daredevil  ways   I've  been  causing  a  riot. 

Since  I  came  out  of  my  shell. 
It's  the  wild  blood  I've  got  in  my  veins  I  suppose. 

Why,  to-day  I've  been   out  and  bought  this  suit  of 
clothes. 

Chorus 

I'm  setting  the  village  on  fire, 
I'm  setting  the  village  on  fire, 
130 


Getting  the  family  name  into   disgrace, 

Into   disgrace,  through  going  the  pace. 
To-day  I  spent  threepence  on  wine, 

And  then  had  a  hike  out  on  hire. 
And  I  jumped  off  a  car  before  it  had  stopped, 

Oh,  I'm  setting  the  village  on  fire. 
I'm  one  of  the  boys,  I'm  one  of  the  nibs, 

I'm  a  jolly  good  fellow! 
I'm  one  of  the  lads,  I'm  one  of  the  nuts. 

Setting  the  village  on  fire. 

I  saw  it  was  making  a  weird  impression  upon  some 
of  the  less  serious  of  the  men,  and  fearing  there  might 
be  some  danger  that  they  would  try  to  demonstrate 
the  song  at  Funchal  the  next  day,  I  decided  that  I 
ought  to  accompany  them  on  shore  to  restrain  any 
superabundance  of  enthusiasm. 

We  went  to  the  hotel  for  breakfast,  and  all  went 
well.  Our  conduct  was  above  possible  reproach.  Then 
w^e  started  down  into  the  old  city,  riding  in  bullock 
sleds  dragged  over  cobble-stone  streets  at  the  speed 
of  2^  nautical  miles  per  hour  (Special  emphasis 
should  be  given  to  "  nautical.")  The  others  of  the 
party  insisted  upon  singing  the  song  they  had  heard 
the  night  before :  "  We  Are  Setting  the  Village  on 
Fire."  It  seemed  an  innocent  amusement,  so  I  did  not 
forbid  them,  and  thus  we  rode  triumphantly  through 
the  "  esplanade." 

Down  in  the  heart  of  the  great  "  metropolis  "  we 
came  to  a  kind  of  fort  or  garrison,  where  a  Portu- 
guese sentry  stood  on  guard.  He  looked  like  the  last 
page  of  the  explorer  Cook's  diary — sort  of  incom- 
plete. The  "  boys  "  w^anted  his  'photo,  and  to  make 
a  striking  illustration  of  the  new  world  vs.  the  old, 
or  of  the  Twentieth  Century  vs.  the  Sixteenth,  or  of 

131 


a  roast  beef  diet  vs.  cigarettes  and  wine,  they  over- 
persuaded  me  to  go  up  to  him  and  "  present  arms  " 
with  my  cane,  which  I  did — thoroughly  innocent,  and  in 
a  perfectly  kind  and  gentlemanly  manner,  as  you  know  I 
would  do. 

The  change  was  something  awful !  I  was  arrested, 
and  in  five  minutes  found  myself  before  the  Commis- 
sioner of  Police.  Then  the  vexed  question  arose  as  to 
what  I  was  charged  with.  One  of  the  Court  proposed 
it  should  be  for  "  exceeding  the  speed  limit  "  in  the 
bullock  sled.  After  deliberation,  that  was  dismissed. 
Another  proposed  that  I  be  charged  with  blocking  the 
streets  and  delaying  traffic.  Some  of  the  main  thor- 
oughfares are  2  feet  8  inches  in  width,  and  I  trem- 
bled for  the  result  of  a  trial  for  this  offense,  for  I  still 
weigh  235  pounds,  and  if  I  went  through  any  street 
I  was  of  necessity  guilty  on  this  indictment.  Fear- 
ing too  much  notoriety,  however,  this  also  was  with- 
drawn. Several  other  possibilities  were  proposed,  but 
finally  it  was  decided  that  I  was  to  be  tried  for  "  in- 
sulting the  Portuguese  Army."  As  soon  as  I  heard  this 
I  knew  I  was  safe,  for  no  matter  what  the  evidence 
was,  I  would  be  exonerated.  It  was  an  impossible 
charge.  During  the  excitement  some  of  my  friends 
hastened  back  to  the  ship  to  request  Captain  Becher  to 
hold  the  ship  till  I  could  "  get  out,"  which  he  con- 
sented to  do  if  my  liberty  could  be  secured  within  an 
hour  or  two. 

Others  went  for  the  American  Consul,  Mr.  John 
Correia,  who  arrived  promptly  and  took  charge  of  my 
case.  It  was  soon  discovered  that  mine  was  no  ordi- 
nary affair  for  the  common  police  court.  I  had  to 
deal  with  the  Presidential  Chair  of  Portugal.  Of 
course  as  soon  as  they  got  me  they  knew  they  had 
a   prize,    and    wanted   to    give   me    every   possible   dis- 

132 


Interviewing  a   Portuguese  sentry 


tinction,  and  so  passed  my  case  up  to  the  highest  pos- 
sible authority.  I  ought  also  to  say  that  to  strengthen 
the  dignity  of  the  case  one  of  my  friends,  a  Britisher, 
went  for  the  British  Consul,  who  had  heart  disease, 
and  could  only  come  as  he  was  able  to  find  shaded  walks 
to  pass  through,  and  therefore  did  not  arrive  in  time 
to  share  in  the  festivities. 

Well,  after  long  debates  about  jurisprudence,  jur- 
isdiction, local  venue,  misdemeanors,  felonies,  high 
crimes  and  treasons,  by  the  faithful  good  offices  of 
the  American  Consul  I  was  declared  a  free  man.  Mind 
you,  not  a  guilty  culprit  punished  and  set  free — not 
that.  They  officially  gave  me  back  my  character, 
which  had  been  temporarily  taken  away  from  me,  and 
I  walked  out  free !  My  dear  Mr.  Cannon,  you  Wall 
Street  men  can  sj'^mpathize  with  my  feelings.  You 
know  what  it  is  to  be  in  doubt  about  your  standing, 
and  then  by  a  small  margin  to  get  your  freedom. 
Well,  that's  how  I  felt.  I  went  back  to  the  ship,  and 
I  must  say  that  there  were  some  rather  sarcastic  things 
said  by  some  about  the  leader  of  the  Men  and  Re- 
ligious Movement  getting  into  jail  at  the  finish.  I  con- 
soled myself,  however,  by  answering  that  Peter,  Paul, 
John  and  James  had  similarly  suffered.  Others  were 
unkind  enough  to  remind  me  that  I  had  been  the  ship's 
preacher  on  the  Sunday  night  before,  and  had  highly 
commended  good  conduct  as  the  best  policy,  but  I 
only  replied  to  these  unnecessary  comments  that  a  man 
to  be  a  good  preacher  needs  to  have  sympathy  with 
the  unfortunate,  and  that  I  was  getting  valuable  ex- 
perience. 

Thus  the  incident  closed,  but  there  is  a  solemn  les- 
son in  it  which  I  want  to  pass  on  to  you,  for  I  feel 
you  need  its  warning,  and  through  you  have  it  passed 

133 


on  to  many  other  men  who  are  in  peril  at  the  same 
point. 

Really,  what  think  you  is  the  secret  of  this  fall? 
You  and  all  my  other  friends  will  refuse  to  believe 
that  I  was  deliberately  bad.  My  record  dispels  such 
a  thought.  I  was  reared  by  a  good  father  and  mother. 
I  went  to  Sunday-school  regularly,  and  learned  the 
golden  text.  I  joined  the  Church  and  the  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association  early  in  life.  I  sang  in 
the  choir  (once).  I  have  an  Irish  wife  with  whom 
I  have  lived  twenty-seven  years.  No  stronger  testi- 
monial of  my  character  can  be  asked  for  than  that. 
I  have  been  a  Secretary  of  the  International  Commit- 
tee of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  for 
years,  and  in  the  Religious  Work  Department  of  which 
you  are  Chairman.  It  is  impossible  to  give  more 
v/eighty  evidence  of  strong  moral  qualities  than  this. 
The  whole  tale  is  told  by  the  old,  old  story,  "  bad  com- 
pany " — that's  it.  I  fell  in  with  the  wrong  crowd, 
and  they  were  my  undoing.     They  led  me  astray. 

Let  me  give  you  the  full  setting:  In  the  party 
there  was  a  Mr.  William  Campbell,  a  strict  Scotch 
Presbyterian  elder,  a  Director  of  the  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association  of  Johannesburg,  and  a  member 
of  the  National  Council  of  the  Young  Men's  Chris- 
tian Associations  of  South  Africa.  He  was  without 
doubt  the  worst  influence  of  the  whole  lot,  for  we  ex- 
pected better  of  him.  There  was  a  Mr.  William  Cuth- 
bert,  an  Irish  Presbyterian  elder,  one  of  the  old  fa- 
mous Covenanters,  who  sing  only  Psalms.  That  is  the 
reason  he  insisted  upon  singing  "  We  Are  Setting  the 
Village  on  Fire."  There  was  a  young  man,  a  strict 
Quaker,  from  Brooklyn,  by  the  name  of  F.  C.  Whitney. 
He  is  one  of  the  kind  who  thinks  it  wrong  to  laugh. 
There    was    a    very   pious    Wesleyan,    an    Englishman, 

134 


by  the  name  of  Lynn  Henwood.  He  is  an  ardent  fol- 
lower of  John  Wesley.  Then  there  was  our  own  C.  M. 
Keeler  of  the  quartet,  the  son  of  a  Methodist  min- 
ister and  a  zealous  advocate  of  all  missionary  under- 
takings. Also  Paul  J.  Gilbert,  the  tenor  singer  and 
theologian,  the  watchdog  of  personal  conduct,  and  P. 
Harlow  Metcalf,  the  Oberlin  graduate  of  the  strictest 
sect.  Also  James  E.  Lathrop,  the  private  secretary  of 
a  religious  worker.  He  is  soon  to  marry  a  minister's 
daughter.  Then,  to  crown  it  all,  there  was  Mr.  Alex- 
ander Hyde  from  Wichita,  Kan.,  the  "  prohibition  " 
State.  He  is  known  as  the  stickler  for  law  and  order. 
He  boasts  of  never  having  been  arrested,  although  he 
also  tells  of  unusual  intimacy  with  the  Chief  of  Police  of 
his  home  town.  Raymond  Robins  was  not  at  the  imme- 
diate Scene,  having  remained  behind  on  the  ship,  but 
nevertheless  he  was  a  factor  in  the  general  atmosphere  in 
which  I  was  moving.  He  has  been  the  most  violent 
participant  in  the  Progressive  Reform  party,  advo- 
cate of  law  enforcement,  but  has  himself  been  arrested 
so  many  times  that  he  has  given  up  the  count.  Ed- 
ward W.  Peck  also  stayed  behind.  I  think  he  antici- 
pated some  kind  of  trouble,  financial  or  otherwise.  He, 
too,  shares  in  the  unsavory  influence  which  dominated 
me.  He  is  a  typical  Puritan.  In  his  boyhood,  when 
a  teacher  once  displeased  him,  he  made  up  a  gang  of 
hoodlums  who  took  the  poor  chap  out  into  the  corn- 
field and  tarred  and  feathered  him.  Therefore,  when 
this  incident  is  fully  known,  charge  it  to  bad  com- 
pany. When  you  look  over  the  list  of  persons  with 
whom  I  was  associated,  the  wonder  is  not  at  what  ac- 
tually happened,  but  that  it  was  not  worse. 

Anyway,  we  got  back  to  the  ship  and  are  sailing 
on.  As  a  fitting  finish  to  the  day  in  sport,  which  we 
begun  by  singing  "  We  Are  Setting  the  Village  on  Fire," 

135 


the  crowd  came  to  my  room  late  that  night  and  sang 
to  the  tune  "  In  the  Sweet  Fields  of  Eden  "  the  following 
which  Alexander  Hyde  had  written: 

Chorus 

Dare  am  res'  fo'  de  unwary, 
When  yo'  visit  old  Madery, 
If  yo'  monkey  wid  de  sentry, 
Dare  am  arres'  fo'  yo' ! 

Don  yo'  go  asho'  wid  Fred.  B., 
If  yo'  really  'spects  to  sightsee, 
Fo'  he's  gwine  to  'suit  de  Army, 
And  dare'll  be  arres'  for  yo' ! 

Does  yo'  really  think  yo'  otter, 
Make  yo'self  out  as  a  Mater, 
De  servin'  Star  and  Gater 
Caus'  dey  'rested  yo' ! 

Dey  let  yo'  go  at  roll  call, 
And  yo'  make  us  b'l've  dat  dat's  all. 
But  dere's  anudder  tale  in  Funchal 
'Bout  dat  arres'  of  yo' ! 

Now  we's  gwine  to  take  yo'  word,  sir. 
But  it  ain't  just  wat  we  hurd,  sir. 
As  to  'zakly  wat  occur'd,  sir. 
When  dey  'rested  yo' ! 

Now  a-let  dis  be  a  warnin', 
'Gainst  dis  regulation  scornin'. 
Or  some  day  we'll  be  in  mournin', 
Caus'  dey  'rested  yo' ! 
136 


I  have  known  for  weeks  that  there  would  be  great 
joy  in  getting  back  to  the  "  land  of  the  free,"  but  it 
has  a  new  significance  now. 

Sincerely  appreciating  my  liberty  to  write  you,  I  am, 
Very  cordially  yours, 

Fred.  B.  Smith, 
An  American  Subject. 


IS' 


XI 

Four  Days  on  the  Continent  of  Europe  and  the  World's 
Sunday-school  Convention.  London,  England, 
July  12,  1913. 

Dear  Mr.  Cannon:  Little  by  little  we  are  cutting 
down  both  the  space  and  time  which  yet  separate  us 
from  the  happy  consummation  of  the  campaign. 

A  world  tour  would  hardly  be  complete  without  in- 
cluding historic  Continental  Europe.  I  therefore  set 
aside  four  days  that  I  might  give  this  part  of  the  uni- 
verse unhurried  attention.  In  the  conscious  remem- 
brance of  the  criticism  passed  upon  "  globe  trotters," 
and  especially  those  from  America,  that  they  go  too 
hurriedly  over  the  route,  and  do  not,  therefore,  have 
time  to  really  catch  the  full  sentiment  of  the  historic 
spots,  I  decided  to  avoid  this  criticism  and  take  time 
enough  for  an  exhaustive  study  of  this  portion  of  the 
world,  and  set  aside  four  full  days  to  that  part  of  Eu- 
rope which  lies  to  the  north  and  east  of  the  English 
Channel.  Peculiar  attention  was  given  to  Germany, 
France,  Switzerland,  Holland  and  Belgium.  I  am  sure 
you  will  appreciate  what  a  liberal  education  this  was, 
for  it  involved  an  exhaustive  study  and  understanding 
of  the  life  and  work  of  such  statesmen  as  Bismarck, 
Napoleon,  Louis  the  XlVth  and  Leopold.  I  found  that 
a  complete  understanding  of  these  made  it  necessary 
also  to  include  Cromwell  and  Wellington  in  my  inves- 
tigation. It  also  involved  a  new  study  of  Church  his- 
tory, with  special  attention  to  Martin  Luther,  Zwingli, 
John  Calvin,  John  Huss  and  John  Knox. 

138 


s.s 


^s  s  ^ 


^T1 


fac  &c  kT 


■■£  j:  S  Q  ^  J  :^ 


o  ^ 


I    g    O    ° 


c^^^S^ 


6    .^d 


I  am  sure  some  Americans  will  feel  that  there  was  a 
touch  of  extravagance  in  giving  so  much  time  to  this. 
I  met  one  who  was  trying  to  cover  it  all  in  one  after- 
noon. He  admitted,  however,  that  he  was  a  bit  hur- 
ried, but  thought  he  would  succeed.  But  for  me,  I 
am  glad  I  took  ample  time,  and  can  henceforth  feel  that 
sense  of  confidence  which  rests  in  knowing  all  phases 
of  a  subject. 

Seriously,  my  main  objective  was  the  World's  Sun- 
day-school Convention  at  Zurich,  Switzerland,  in  the 
foothills  of  the  Alps.  Certainly  no  one  event  can  stand 
out  more  delightfully  than  the  privilege  of  seeing  and 
sharing  in  this  great  world  gathering.  I  am  fully  con- 
vinced that  it  will  mark  a  mighty  advance  in  Sunday- 
school  work  everj^where.  It  was  worth  going  a  long 
way  for,  and  was  great  any  way  you  approach  it. 

It  was  great  in  the  first  place  because  of  the  city 
in  which  it  was  held.  Zurich  is  the  ideal  spot  for  a 
World  Sunday-school  gathering.  Here,  just  a  night's 
ride  from  Rome,  Protestantism  had  its  birth,  and  to- 
day stands,  after  more  than  four  hundred  years  of 
testing,  ready  to  be  judged  by  the  law — "  By  their 
fruits  ye  shall  know  them."  Luther,  Zwingli  and  Cal- 
vin did  not  labor,  pray  and  suffer  for  naught.  Zurich 
in  every  way  is  a  worthy  illustration  of  the  power  of 
religious  liberty.  It  has  beautiful  churches  filled  with 
people.  But  I  know  cities  where  there  are  beautiful 
churches  filled  with  people,  while  the  mass  of  the  folks 
outside  are  in  filth,  dirt,  squalor,  vice  and  unspeakable 
destitution.  Not  so  in  Zurich.  The  city  is  clean,  well 
built,  well  governed  and  prosperous.  The  people  are 
prosperous,  happy,  and,  as  a  rule,  morally  good.  If 
what  any  given  doctrine  produces  in  the  lives  of  peo- 
ple is  an  index  of  its  worth,  those  founders  of  the 
Zurich  faith  had  the  right  thing. 

139 


The  Convention  was  great  in  the  second  place  be- 
cause of  the  world  optimistic  view  of  Bible  Study 
which  it  afforded.  It  was  no  place  for  a  pessimist. 
The  air  was  charged  with  hope.  It  would  have  been 
great  fun  to  have  taken  one  of  the  real  downright 
muck-scraping  journalists,  who  insist  that  everything 
is  going  bad — religion  dying  out,  the  Church  failing, 
and  most  men  going  to  the  dogs — into  that  Conven- 
tion, and  held  him  under  that  fire  for  twenty-four 
hours.     He  would  have  been  either  dead  or  converted. 

There  were  delegates  there  from  at  least  46  differ- 
ent nations.  They  reported  an  enrollment  of  28,000,- 
000  students.  They  brought  the  message  that  the 
Bible,  the  prophesied  "  obsolete  "  book,  is  being  sold 
at  the  rate  of  11,000,000  copies  per  year  in  540  dif- 
ferent languages.  The  biggest  sale  of  Scripture  in 
the  history  of  Christianity,  according  to  the  two  great- 
est Bible  Societies,  was  in  1912.  The  announcement 
was  made  that  the  "  Adult  Department  "  alone  was  in- 
creasing in  enrollment  at  the  rate  of  2,000  per  week. 
The  Convention  revealed  the  fact  that  the  Bible  is  still 
the  most  popular  book  in  the  world. 

It  was  a  great  Convention,  in  the  third  place,  be- 
cause of  the  tremendous  emphasis  upon  specialized  work 
for  men  and  boys.  There  have  been  those  among  the 
leaders  of  the  Sunday-school  work  who  have  contended 
for  a  co-educational  basis.  For  the  first  time  in  the 
history  of  the  World's  Convention  topics  dealing  with 
men  and  hoys  only  were  introduced.  Our  own  W.  C. 
Pearce,  W.  A.  Brown  and  John  L.  Alexander  were 
pleaders  for  this  topic.  In  all  the  world  tour  I  have 
not  met  greater  enthusiasm  than  when  I  spoke  there 
urging  the  Sunday-school  to  make  room  for  a  men's 
and  boys'  special  organization  to  carry  out  the  Men 
and  Religion  program.     The  great  F.  B.  Meyer,  in  his 

140 


% 

'     ilS!l 

W"-*^^"^ 

'^^^^^^^^^B' 

Fredk.  B.  Meyer,  London,  at  Zurich,  watching  Sunday-school 
Convention 


opening  address,  pleaded  for  Social  Service  as  a  part 
of  the  Christian  program,  and  in  a  most  delightful 
personal  conversation  with  me  said  we  ought  to  be  urg- 
ing our  Christian  men  to  get  into  politics  and  public 
affairs.  Our  beloved  Floyd  Tomkins,  who  preached 
the  Convention  sermon,  in  the  same  manner  pleaded 
earnestly  with  the  men  of  the  Sunday-school  to  par- 
ticipate in  the  social  awakening  of  modern  times.  I 
came  away  feeling  that  the  most  marked  note  of  the 
whole  session  was  the  new  accent  upon  masculine  work. 
The  Convention  was  great,  in  the  fourth  place,  be- 
cause of  the  American  enthusiasm.  If  I  may  be  per- 
mitted modestly  to  say  it,  the  "  North  American " 
badges  seemed  to  outnumber  any  other  by  two  to  one. 
We  have  a  good  many  things  to  make  us  humble,  and 
sometimes  to  make  us  ashamed,  in  contact  with  some 
types  of  Americans  who  travel  abroad  and  swagger 
and  swear,  but  North  American  stock  was  above  par 
at  Zurich.  I  have  not  the  full  report  of  the  Creden- 
tial Committee,  but,  notwithstanding  the  distance  and 
cost  of  travel,  I  am  persuaded  that  more  than  half  the 
delegates  were  from  North  America.  The  Treasurer 
reported  that  he  had  issued  47  "  Life  Memberships  " 
during  the  past  three  years.  A  life  member  is  one 
who  subscribes  $1,000  or  over  in  any  given  year.  Of 
the  47,  I  was  interested  to  obsei-^^e  that  39  of  them 
came  from  our  side  of  the  sea.  Then,  too,  our  Amer- 
ican side  bulks  big  because  the  General  Secretaryship 
of  the  World's  Sunday-school  Association  is  held  joint- 
ly by  Rev.  Carey  Bonner,  of  England,  and  the  big- 
Bouled,  generous-hearted  Marion  Lawrance,  of  Chi- 
cago. He  will  offset  the  unwholesome  influence  of  a 
hundred  cheap  American  buccaneers  who  go  brawling 
around  Europe.  The  North  American  was  a  very  con- 
spicuous part  of  the   whole   Convention. 

141 


For  these  and  many  other  reasons,  it  was  a  mighty 
Convention,  and  one  that  will  advance  the  Kingdom 
of  Jesus  Christ  to  the  ends  of  the  earth.  There  were 
many  most  interesting  features,  the  variegated  colors 
of  the  delegates,  the  peculiar  dress — all  sorts>  kinds 
and  descriptions  were  there.  The  language  question, 
however,  was  most  vital.  All  the  reports  and  addresses 
were  submitted  in  three  languages — French,  German 
and  English.  But  when  you  got  down  in  the  lobby  of 
the  great  hall  there  seemed  to  be  a  hundred  going  on 
at  the  same  time.  It  reminded  me  of  the  remark  of 
the  old  stewardess  on  the  ship  coming  up  from  South 
Africa,  who  came  up  to  me  after  she  learned  who  I 
was,  and  congratulated  me  upon  the  work  I  was  en- 
gaged in,  and  then  said :  "  Do  you  know  about  the  Con- 
gregational ?  I  joined  them  last  winter  out  at  Wim- 
bledon. But  I  am  not  sure  whether  I  like  it  or  not. 
It  seems  to  me  the  preacher  out  there  at  the  Congre- 
gational don't  know  where  he  is  going.  He  seems 
to  know  a  lot  of  things  he  don't  know,  but  I  never 
heard  him  tell  about  any  he  does  know  for  sure." 
Then,  with  a  good  amount  of  English  assurance,  she 
said:  "  I  think  our  preacher  is  just  building  the  tower 
of  Babylon."  Well,  Zurich  seemed  sometimes  like  the 
jfirst  morning  after  that  famous  tower  went  over. 

This  is  sure — the  Sunday-school  is  a  great  institu- 
tion. It  has  been  a  great  power,  is  now,  and  is  yet 
to  be  a  greater  one.  I  did  my  first  Christian  work 
in  a  little  country  Sunday-school  out  in  Dakota,  and  I 
have  never  been  accused  of  indifference  to  it,  but  I  be- 
lieve  in   it  now   more   than   ever   before. 

Just  closing  the  long  appeal  for  a  bigger,  better 
work  for  men  and  boys  all  the  way  around  the  world, 
I  thank  God  for  having  given  me  this  view  of  the  world- 

142 


wide   Sunday-school   awakening.      It   gives   great   hope 
for  the  future. 

Once  more  I  bid  you  good-bye,  although  I  hope  to 
be  under  "  Old  Glory  "  myself  when  you  are  reading 
this. 

Yours  as  always  and  everywhere, 

Fred.  B.   Smith. 


143 


XII 

England  and  Homeward  Bound,  July  17,  1913. 

My  dear  Mr.  Cannon:  The  writing  of  reports  and 
home  letters,  cabling,  watching  for  "  the  mail,"  and 
counting  days,  are  about  over.  If  nothing  unforeseen 
happens,  in  twenty-four  hours  more  I  will  be  standing 
on  the  old  sod  and  under  the  grandest  flag  that  ever 
waved. 

Our  return  to  the  British  Isles,  coming  in  midsum- 
mer, made  it  impossible  to  do  very  much  in  the  way  of 
constructive  Men  and  Religion  work.  As  in  New  York, 
everybody  seems  to  be  away  from  London  on  a  vacation 
during  July  and  August.  We  were  there  long  enough, 
however,  to  feel  a  little  of  the  throb  of  the  dominant  re- 
ligious note,  and  to  know  that  the  same  powerful  tides 
are  running  there  which  we  have  found  in  other  nations. 
We  found  the  pulpit  and  the  religious  press  discussing 
the  question  of  how  to  interest  and  hold  men  and  boys 
in  the  Church. 

On  Sunday,  July  6th,  I  had  the  privilege  of  speak- 
ing in  the  famous  Whitfield  Tabernacle,  where  the  fight- 
ing parson,  theologian,  parliamentarian  and  statesman, 
Rev.  Silvester  Home,  M.P.,  is  pastor.  Raymond  Rob- 
ins also  spoke  in  the  same  church  in  the  afternoon  at 
the  wonderful  men's  gathering,  which  has  been  running 
for  nearly  ten  years,  always  with  an  immense  audience. 
Silvester  Home  is  the  embodiment  of  the  essential  Men 
and  Religion  message,  and,  of  course,  gave  us  a  grand 
reception.  At  night,  I  spoke  at  the  old  Christ  Church, 
made  world-wide  in  influence  by  the  ministry  of  Rev. 

144 


Frederick  B.  Meyer,  and  where  our  own  Rev.  Len 
Broughton  is  now  pastor.  We  had  worked  with  him  in 
Atlanta,  and  he  knew  the  whole  message  and  result.  No 
argument  was  needed  to  convince  him  of  the  value  of 
the  Men  and  Religion  campaign.  He  had  tasted  it  be- 
fore and  gave  us  a  never-to-be-forgotten  greeting  of 
cordiality  to.  his  great  church  and  people.  Indeed,  he 
is  a  whole  Men  and  Religion  Movement  in  himself.  We 
found  him  doing  in  Christ  Church  the  same  splendid 
work  of  organization  which  he  carried  out  w^ith  such 
marked  skill  in  Atlanta.  With  a  good  deal  of  certainty 
he  said  that  his  church  was  going  to  have  a  forward 
movement  in  men's  work,  no  matter  w^hat  the  rest  of 
England  might  do. 

In  the  afternoon  of  the  same  Sunday,  I  had  the  joy 
of  speaking  to  a  magnificent  audience  in  the  central 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association  building,  where  our 
mighty  friend  of  many  years,  John  James  Virgo,  bet- 
ter known  as  "  Jack,"  presides  as  General  Secretary.  I 
do  not  think  the  Association  anywhere  can  boast  of 
much  better  work  than  is  now  being  carried  out  here. 
July  is  not  the  best  month  to  see  it  in  action,  but  the 
whole  comment  about  it  is  one  of  cordial  approval. 
There  is  a  good  educational  work,  a  splendid  physical 
department,  great  social  activities.  They  have  one 
of  the  best  billiard  rooms  in  any  Young  Men's  Chris- 
tian Association  building  in  the  world.  There  were 
those  who  prophesied  that  the  'buses  would  stop  run- 
ning if  ever  the  London  Association  put  in  billiards. 
But  they  are  there  and  still  the  world  moves  right  on. 
I  do  not  believe  that  there  is  another  such  meeting  in 
the  entire  Brotherhood  as  the  "  Social  Tea  "  following 
the  Sunday  afternoon  men's  meeting.  Two  hundred 
young  men  sat  down  at  the  tables  the  Sunday  we  were 
there,    and    at    the    roll    call    of    nations    from    which 

145 


they  came  it  seemed  as  though  the  ends  of  the  earth 
responded.  The  organization  may  well  be  proud  of  the 
work  now  being  carried  on  by  the  original  Association. 

I  had  frequent  conferences  at  the  national  headquar- 
ters, No.  13  Russell  Square.  Here,  too,  they  are  mak- 
ing fine  progress,  and  are  adding  some  very  strong  men 
to  the  staff.  The  central  topic  here  is  the  anticipated 
special  united  forward  movement  in  which  Mr.  Basil 
Hewer,  the  Secretary  for  Religious  Work  of  the  Na- 
tional Council,  is  to  lead.  It  is  practically  the  Men  and 
Religion  Movement,  but  they  have  decided  to  call  it  the 
"  Christian  Manhood  Campaign." 

In  all  of  these  meetings  and  interviews  the  Forward 
Movement  in  men's  work  was  the  theme.  There  are 
unique  difficulties  in  such  an  effort  in  the  British  Isles, 
but  I  venture  the  prophecy  that  if  it  is  carried  out 
earnestly,  it  will  make  the  most  profound  impression 
there  of  any  place  in  the  whole  world.  Their  religious 
conditions  are  just  ripe  for  it,  and  when  the  Britisher 
sees  the  real  significance  of  this  type  of  masculine  Chris- 
tian emphasis,  he  will,  as  usual,  do  it  well. 

At  the  close  of  these  months,  and  almost  within  sight 
of  the  dear  old  United  States,  I  am  going  over  the  ex- 
periences and  trying  to  summarize  my  impressions.  It 
is  not  an  easy  task,  for  we  have  been  through  so  many, 
many  varied  scenes.  Some,  however,  stand  out  above 
all  the  others : 

The  marvel  of  the  perfection  of  ocean  travel  is  not 
the  least.  Although  it  may  not  have  any  immediate 
bearing  upon  our  work,  it  is  nevertheless  one  of  the 
very  impressive  facts.  We  have  put  in  over  eighty 
days  on  the  sea,  traveling  upon  thirteen  different  ships 
in  all  kinds  of  seas  and  climates  and  among  all  kinds 
of  people.  There  has  been  not  one  jar  or  accident  all 
the  way.     The  modern  skipper  sails  through  wind,  rain, 

146 


snow  and  fog  up  to  the  exact  spot  at  the  exact  hour. 
We  have  not  been  an  hour  late  anywhere.  Ocean  trans- 
portation is  more  reliable,  I  believe,  than  are  the  rail- 
ways upon  land.  We  are  closing  this  part  of  our  wan- 
derings upon  the  Mauretania,  the  queen  of  all  the  ships 
afloat.  She  is  just  one  great  city.  We  get  up  in  the 
morning,  read  the  daily  paper,  answer  correspondence, 
send  a  few  telegrams  and  then  have  luncheon.  In  the 
afternoon  the  ladies  don  their  walking  or  street  gowns, 
the  gents  their  neatest  business  suits  and  all  promenade. 
Fifth  Avenue  is  not  finer  than  "  B"  deck  of  the  Maure- 
tania  on  a  fine  afternoon.  At  night,  dinner  at  about 
eight,  music  in  the  drawing-room  and  the  day  is  over. 
If  anyone  on  this  voyage  had  not  looked  out,  they 
would  not  have  known  we  were  at  sea  at  all.  All  the 
way  from  Liverpool,  not  a  motion  more  than  one  would 
get  on  the  Hudson  River.  Wouldn't  Lief  Erickson, 
Christopher  Columbus  and  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  like  to 
be  Captains  now.? 

The  world-wide  influence  of  the  Men  and  Religion 
Movement  has  amazed  me.  I  do  not  say  this  merely 
as  related  to  the  nations  and  cities  we  have  visited,  but 
in  a  large  sense  based  upon  the  messages  coming  from 
so  many  other  quarters  of  the  world.  Hawaii,  Japan, 
China,  the  Philippine  Islands,  Australia,  South  Africa 
and  England  are  deeply  stirred,  but  I  am  even  more 
impressed  by  the  impression  made  in  other  places.  I 
have  already  written  of  how  deeply  the  World's  Sun- 
day-school Convention  was  aroused  over  the  need  of 
this  type  of  work.  I  have  never  in  my  life  had  a  more 
pressing  invitation  than  one  which  comes  from  Hol- 
land for  a  campaign  of  this  kind.  I  was  surrounded 
at  Zurich  by  the  delegation  from  Sweden,  determined 
that  I  should  go  straight  to  Sweden  with  them  to  launch 
a  campaign.     The  last  hour  in  London  brought  a  stir- 

147 


ring  appeal  from  Belfast  for  a  series  of  such  confer- 
ences and  meetings.  I  do  not  write  this  in  a  sense  of 
conceit,  but  I  hope  more  in  humility  than  otherwise,  for 
I  believe  God  Himself  has  been  guiding  these  develop- 
ments, and  this  appeal  is  being  made  in  just  the  exact 
period  when  He  ordained  it  should  be.  If  I  were  back 
in  that  "  state  room  "  of  the  Hotel  Manhattan,  May 
18,  1911,  and  knew  in  advance  all  the  anxious  days 
and  nights,  all  the  hard  work  and  all  the  heart  aches 
that  would  be  involved  in  carrying  out  the  program, 
I  would  go  straight  forward.  It  has  been  used  of  God 
permanently  to  change  some  things  in  organized  Chris- 
tianity. I  believe  in  "  Movements  "  more  than  ever.  I 
am  grateful  to  God  that  Moody  led  out  in  that  great 
evangelistic  movement.  I  am  glad  for  the  Laymen's 
Missionary  Movement.  I  am  thankful  for  the  Men 
and  Religion  Forward  Movement.  I  am  rejoiced  to 
hear  of  the  United  Missionary  Movement.  I  am  happy 
in  the  anticipation  of  the  Movements  yet  to  be  born. 
Anything  hut  a  calm! 

The  loyalty^  love  and  devotion  of  the  members  of  the 
team  will  live  forever  with  me  as  one  of  the  outstand- 
ing impressions.  I  would  not  be  true  to  myself  in  this 
last  letter  to  you  if  I  failed  to  speak  of  my  associates 
in  these  hard  months  of  work.  There  have  been  breaks 
in  travel,  but  the  pressure  has  been  indescribable  at 
times.  I  am  built  for  a  good  deal  of  hardship,  and  am 
always  in  danger  of  going  too  fast.  You  may  know 
that  it  has  been  pretty  earnest  when  I  sum  up  the 
whole  tour  by  telling  you  that  we  have  held  476  differ- 
ent meetings  and  conferences,  have  addressed  147,181 
men  and  boys  in  eight  different  Nations,  and  have  trav- 
eled 43,308  miles.  During  it  all,  every  man  in  the 
party  has  been  true,  and  ready  to  do  his  utmost.  At 
the  close,  instead  of  being  ready  to  separate,  I  believe 

148 


they  would  rather  be  together  than  with  any  other  sim- 
ilar group  of  men  on  earth.  I  cannot  go  over  them  one 
by  one,  but  I  do  want  to  testify  to  their  tremendous 
work  throughout  the  whole  year. 

The  necessity  of  evangelizing  our  own  North  America 
is  upon  my  heart  more  than  anything  else  to-day.  Of  all 
impressions,  this  is  the  most  dominant  one.  I  am  thor- 
oughly convinced  that  we  of  Canada  and  the  United 
States  have  an  obligation  to  the  religious  world  every- 
where. I  am  persuaded  that  this  does  not  apply  simply 
to  our  general  Foreign  Missionary  responsibility,  but 
has  an  equal  bearing  upon  the  welfare  and  progress  of 
the  Kingdom  of  God  in.  lands  called  Christian  and  non- 
Christian,  and  I  think  we  would  be  untrue  to  the  vision 
which  has  been  vouchsafed  if  we  did  not  from  time  to 
time  make  our  contribution  to  the  extension  and  devel- 
opment of  the  Christian  forces  throughout  the  world. 
Our  commerce  is  going  everywhere.  I  have  not  found 
a  place  in  all  our  wanderings  where  I  did  not  see  Ameri- 
can farm  machinery,  kerosene  oil,  soaps,  perfumery, 
pickles,  razors,  cough-drops,  boots,  shoes,  sewing  ma- 
chines, automobiles,  mentholatum,  bicycles,  wind-mills, 
wagons,  chewing-gum,  flour,  oatmeal,  canned  fruits  and 
meats.  By  the  law  of  honorable  return,  any  nation  which 
is  drawing  so  much,  both  in  people  and  financial  gain 
from  the  remotest  corners  of  the  earth,  ought  to  expect 
to  share  in  the  great  moral  battles  of  the  world.  Of 
this  principle  I  am  finnly  convinced.  But  I  am  even 
more  convinced  of  the  fact  that  notwithstanding  these 
distant  responsibilities,  our  primary,  fundamental  and 
immediate  necessity  is  to  see  that  the  work  of  moral 
preservation.  Christian  energizing  and  evangelizing  are 
carried  out  in  our  own  North  America.  This  is  forced 
home  upon  me  for  so  many  reasons  that  I  would  not 
dare  attempt  to  write  you  all  of  them. 

149 


I  am  sure  it  is  true  because  we  are  here  working  out 
the  illustration,  it  seems  to  me,  of  the  final  method  in 
religious  work  which  must  be  applied  to  all  people 
everywhere.  I  have  been  repeatedly  made  to  tremble 
as  I  have  realized  how  continuously  the  American 
method  in  religious  work  is  finding  its  way  into  all  the 
nations  of  the  world.  It  has  been  rather  amusing,  in 
some  places,  to  hear  them  speak  of  the  danger  of  the 
American  methods,  and  not  infrequently  even  argue 
against  them,  and  then  turn  quietly  around  and  adopt 
them.  We  are  bearing  a  grave  responsibility  in  that 
from  the  standpoint  of  the  extension  of  the  Kingdom 
of  Jesus  Christ,  leaders  of  every  nation  of  which  I 
have  knowledge  are  anxiously  awaiting  our  develop- 
ments. 

I  am  sure  that  there  is  also  a  great  responsibility  to 
evangelize  our  own  country,  because  notwithstanding 
all  the  arguments  concerning  the  needier  places  of  the 
world,  we  have  to  bow  our  heads  in  humility  as  we  face 
a  good  many  bad  situations  in  our  own  home  land.  I 
do  not  think  I  found  any  kind  of  sin  anywhere  but  that 
in  some  form  it  exists  in  New  York,  Chicago,  Toronto, 
Montreal,  San  Francisco  and  all  the  rest.  I  remember 
hearing  an  old  theological  professor  in  a  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association  Convention  some  years  ago  say 
that  he  believed  every  man  in  the  world  ought  to  have 
a  fair  show  for  his  salvation.  It  sounded  very  com- 
monplace at  first,  but  it  has  been  with  me  ever  since  as 
a  powerful  statement.  It  is  upon  this  principle  that 
the  Foreign  Missionary  appeal  becomes  irresistible,  and 
every  real  Christian  has  to  accept  his  part  in  that  re- 
sponsibility, but  it  is  equally  true  that  the  young  men 
of  our  own  country  ought  to  have  a  fair  show  for  their 
salvation,  and  that  a  good  many  of  them  are  not  having 

150 


it.  No  lessening  of  force  at  home  can  be  thought  of 
or  tolerated  so,  long  as  present  conditions  obtain. 

I  feel  the  sense  of  this  home  responsibility  as  I  never 
felt  it  before,  for  we  have  in  our  land,  as  perhaps  in 
no  other  in  the  world,  the  available  resources  to  do  the 
work.  Somewhere  I  have  either  written  or  said  that  I 
believe  that  there  are  ten  dollars  of  money  ready  for 
every  dollar  of  need  if  the  Christian  business  men  of  the 
United  States  and  Canada  can  be  assured  that  their 
money  is  going  to  be  economically  and  efficiently  ad- 
ministered. If  we  cannot  win  this  contest  in  the  United 
States  and  Canada,  it  cannot  be  won  anywhere.  I  be- 
lieve that  the  Kingdom  of  God  is  going  to  be  estab- 
lished, and  that  the  ushering  in  of  this  day  with  us  is 
a  sort  of  advance  movement  in  the  interests  of  the  whole 
world.  I  am  coming  home  to  give  myself  to  this  task 
of  the  religious  life  of  the  young  men  of  our  own  North 
American  continent  as  I  have  never  done  before. 

As  I  think  about  what  it  will  mean  to  step  on  those 
shores  to-morrow,  I  cannot  help  a  sense  of  great 
pity  for  the  men  of  our  land  who  are  whining  about 
"  conditions."  The  man  who  cannot  make  a  reasonable 
success  of  life  in  the  United  States  or  Canada  would 
be  a  wretched  failure  anywhere  you  put  him,  and  the 
religious  organization  which  does  not  do  a  great  work 
there  ought  to  surrender  its  charter  and  go  out  of 
business.  I  am  afraid  I  will  be  found  preaching  the 
doctrine  of  North  America  patriotism  a  good  deal  dur- 
ing these  coming  months.  To-day  I  feel  as  though  I 
wanted  to  get  off  this  ship,  and  get  down  on  my  back 
and  roll  over  on  the  ground  of  our  own  soil. 

For  all  the  journeying  mercies  that  have  surrounded 
us,  for  all  the  unparalleled  blessings  which  have  at- 
tended our  labors  and  for  the  good  providence  of  God 
which   brings   us   back    safely,   we    render   unspeakable 

151 


thanksgiving,  but  in  this  oratorio  of  gratitude  nothing 
else  at  this  moment  impresses  me  so  profoundly  as  the 
sense  of  home,  with  my  own  family,  the  circle  of  Chris- 
tian men  with  whom  I  work,  and  my  native  soil.  I  shall 
sing,  as  I  have  not  hitherto  sung.  Dr.  Barbour's  favor- 
ite hymn: 


O  beautiful  for  spacious  skies, 

For  amber  waves  of  grain, 
For  purple  mountain  majesties, 

Above  the  fruited  plain ! 
America !  America ! 
God  shed  His  grace  on  thee. 

And  crown  thy  good  with  brotherhood 
From  sea  to  shining  sea ! 

O  beautiful  for  pilgrim  feet 

Whose  stern,  impassioned  stress 

A  thoroughfare  for  freedom  beat 
Across  the  wilderness ! 
America !  America ! 

God  mend  thine  every  flaw, 

Confirm  thy  soul  in  self-control. 

Thy  liberty  in  law ! 

O  beautiful  for  heroes  proved 

In  liberating  strife, 
Who  more  than  self  their  country  loved. 
And  mercy  more  than  life! 
America !  America ! 
May  God  thy  gold  refine, 

Till  all  success  be  nobleness. 
And  every  gain  divine ! 
152 


O  beautiful  for  patriot  dream 

That  sees  beyond  the  years 
Thine  alabaster  cities  gleam 

Undimmed  by  human  tears ! 
America!  America! 
God  shed  His  grace  on  thee 

And  crown  thy  good  with  brotherhood 
From  sea  to  shining  sea! 

Yours  with  everything  I  have  for  the 

Kingdom  of  God, 
Fred.  B.  Smith 


153 


B6-21-H83  32180   «C 


THE  TROW  PRESS 
NEW  YORK 


Princeton  Theological  Seminary-Speer  Library 


1    1012  01094  7358 


